Can 2x512MB and 1x1GB RAM be used together?

[Craig234]

Wasting money in the hot deals forum (STAY AWAY!), I recently bought a 1GB chip for an upcoming FX-55 system (which I think means a 939 motherboard?)

Now there's a good deal on 512MB chips, and I'm wondering, can a 1GB and 2x512MB be used together, three chips total?

I asked and got a bit of an unclear answer that someone has seen the bios could only use 1, 2, or 4 chips not three.

 

[tallman45]

Yes but then you would loose the dual channel memory bandwith, they would only run in single channel mode

 

[JEDIYoda]

YOU SURE....

just asking because if thats truly the case then why do vendors sell 1 stick of ddr memory.....things that make you go hmmm

 

[Ruptga]

Yes the single-channel thing is correct. Vendors sell single sticks because some people really don't care about dual-channel, or they're still on S754 boards, or they just don't know about dual-channel. The main reason is that people just don't care though, 3200Mb/s is good enough for many.

 

[Craig234]

Thanks. I forgot to ask the other question - since Windows XP 32-bit has a 3GB limit on RAM, would 2x1GB and 2x512MB make sense to run, and would it use dual channel with the mixed sizes since each size is paired?

Also, is there anything tricky to configuring the setup in the original post? I'm assuming the benefits of the second GB of RAM far outweigh the disadvantage of losing dual channel... and you would lose dual channel for the 2x512MB, not just the 1x1gb?

 

[Craig234]

bump.

 

[Ruptga]

Two GB and 512 sticks would be 3GB in dual channel, yes. Just make sure you get the right sticks in the right mem slots and you're good to go.

I have no idea about any hidden things to watch for with 3 sticks of ram, nor can I say from experience if 2GB of single channel is better than 1GB of dual channel, though I'd guess that it would go to the 2GB setup. The classic response is, what's the computer going to be used for? I have no idea, but I bet those that do will want to know in order to best answer the question.

Yes, 2x512 plus 1x1024 is all single channel, maybe someday they'll come up with some weird tri-channel, but not yet.

And for the original post, yes, FX-55 means s939.