Dual Channel Memory Loadout

[roryph]

Hey all.

I've got a rookie question that I hope someone can help me with. I'm building my first PC and can't work out what configuration of dual memory sticks I need to make up the 1GHz I want.

The mobo I'm getting has 2 slots of DDR2 533 dual memory and 2 slots of DDR 400 dual memory. Would it be better for me to get 4 sticks of 256MHz (for the relevant slots) or should I make up the 1GHz out of 2 sticks of 512 MHz DDR2 533?

Cheers.

 

[jpeyton]

2 sticks of 512MB DDR2 will be the better option.

 

[stevty2889]

You would have to use 2 sticks, the ddr and ddr2 slots will not work together at the same time. And it MB(Megabyte) not Mhz, which is used to measure frequency. I would say to stick with 2 512mb sticks of PC3200(DDR400) because it is less expensive, and DDR2 currently offers no advantage.

 

[roryph]

Thanks for that guys. I originally intended to just get the DDR2 sticks as prices are fairly comparable here between DDR and DDR2 but I somehow got the notion that splitting the memory up more might be more efficient (using the same theory as dual-channel and dual-SLI). If that's true about the DDR/DDR2 not working together, I might have to go back to the drawing board to get a mobo that uses one or the other.

Cheers.