RAM opinions

[armatura]

Hey all,

Some good stuff goin on in these forums, been reading them for a bit now and came across a situation that I think I could use some opinions on...as I am no RAM expert. I recently ordered some RAM that I thought was at an incredible price, and its crucial DDR pc3200 2x512 sticks with 2-2-2-6 timings. I currently have two 512 sticks in my machine one which is crucial, and one which I'm not really sure about, its getting a tad old to be honest. The timings in my bios indicate theyre running at 2.5-3-3-7. So my question is whether or not I should just replace the gig of ram I currently have in there or add it on and just have the 4 sticks and 2 gigs. I suppose my concern is that I will have to run at the slowest speed of the sticks if theyre all in there, but as I said I'm no expert and unsure if this is true. I don't do a ton of RAM-intensive work on my computer, so the fast 1 gig would be fine if I really see a benefit from it, i don't need 2 gigs for daily stuff....

anyway, thanks for any opinions on this...

Arm

 

[capricorn]

As in all things related to computer speed, RAM speed, etc., what you need depends on how you use the machine. For word processing, spreadsheets, email, browsing the web, etc. I find 1GB of RAM is adequate. In the next year or so - whenever Vista comes out most likely - I'm going to go with 2GB minimum even in a basic system.

For a gaming system, people who are heavy users of Photoshop, 3D graphics design programs and the like, 2GB is really the minimum now. You can get away with 1GB if you are conscientious in what you let run in the background. (AIM, print monitors, Quicktime system tray tool, etc. kept to a minimum.)

My feelings on memory timing are similar. 2.5-3-3-3-7 isn't a horrible set of timings for a machine running standard desktop apps. Going to 2-2-2-6 on such a system probably wouldn't make a noticable difference. Going from 1GB to 2GB (even at the 2.5-3-3-3-7 settings) would probably help more. If you do a lot of memory-intensive work (e.g., gaming, 3D modeling), the faster the memory the better.

Memory stability is just as important as timings. Getting 2-2-2-6 doesn't matter if the RAM causes crashes every 5 minutes. Going with Crucial is a safe choice. I don't always use their RAM, but when I have, I've yet to be disappointed. They are not always the cheapest, but their memory just works.

 

[Lemon law]

Lots of Luck getting any answers there---as I posed the same type question to crucial and Kingston.
Both companies will be happy to tell you what ram is compatable with your motherboard---but will totally duck any question regarding their ram living with another stick of ram.

But I assume you have four slots---two of which are unpopulated---since all ram sticks are 512 MB--put your new ram in slots 3 and 4--and see if it will boot up and run stable---if not---scrap your ram in slots
1 and 2--put your new ram in slots 1 and 2---and at least you are sure they will live with each other and run at the same clocking and speed---and then see if you can get to 1.5 gigs with either of the original sticks. ---without getting downclocking or system unstability.

But its trial and error. ---and the other question to ask---will it speed things up---and the way
to answer that is by quantifying some typical task times on YOUR PC---in my case---my times dramatically improved by a ram upgrade---if your times only slightly improve---or worse yet slow down---what have you gained?