More ram? dilema

[andrei3333]

Ok so my comp is new and when i built it i got 2 GB ram (see sig)

now i am overclocking and kinda seeing the limit of the ram i have cause its 800MHz...my mobo says it will support 1066MHz, but for gaming 2GB seems fine except many people on here say 4gb is the way to go even in XP32bit which i have (yes i have been reading that thread thats around here on 4vs2 gb)

here is the dilema: If i go for the same ram i have now and get 2 more sticks at 1GB each i will still be using 800MHz ram (+ the ram i have now is not on sale anymore as it was at the time so its not as cheap)

OR

Get a whole new ram kit at 2x2gb but its kinda also a waste of money since ill be loosing out on the ram i have now which is still good...

so what should i do ?

 

[mpilchfamily]

Stick with what you have. There is no need for more then 2Gb of RAm in 32 bit XP. Unless your are running some rendering software or encoding software that needs the extra memory.

But if you just have to have 4gig and don't mind the 3.25Gig issue in 32 bit XP then i suggest going with the 2x 2Gb DIMMS.

 

[DSF]

I'm noticing that you're running 4-4-4-12 timings. Does loosening the timings to 5-5-5-15 or 5-5-5-18 help you reach a higher speed?

(And the natural second question would be whether you actually need your processor to go beyond 3.8GHz in the first place. )

 

[andrei3333]

^ hahahaha thanks for the replies

umm i dont really feel the difference inside windows between 3.0GHz and 3.8 GHz to be honest, but in crisis i get what feels like a huge boost. no i do not NEED it to OC that high, but it would be sweet i guess....changing the timings ? yes i tried 5-5-5-15 but i had issues and did not know if they were caused by this or another change so i went back to 4-4-4-12 ( i change a bunch of things at the same time and reboot - yes i know its wrong, but i am impatient)

i dont NEED the 4GB ( or 3.25 ) i dont seem to have issues in XP that are major, its just that sometimes when i am downloading really fast - say around 400-500 KB/s and switching around programs, burning app, firefox, whatever ( i love to multitask and do everything at the same time ) i notice a hick up or two - like a jerky feel - not really a slowdown....

from what i have read about my ram sticks is that they are cheap and suck, but do run spec and a little above, i guess i just feel like taking off the case and doing something to the PC rather than upgrading for a specific need -- i already custom fitted the case with fans all over the place ( its an old case that was not designed for those fans) i guess its the mod bug in me ;-)