Ram question: 4X512 vs. 2X1gb

[Icol]

How much of a performance boost is there between the 4X 512 sticks and the 2X 1gb sticks?

 

[Leros]

You can run the 2 1gb sticks in dual channel, so that alone would be a big boost.

 

[keeleysam]

go for 2x1GB

 

[imported_Starman]

The question to ask is what sort of performance drop you suffer when populating all 4 DIMM slots. It varies according to what sort of Athlon 64 CPU you're using, but here's the short and sweet:

Using 4 DIMMs of PC3200 (double-sided)

Winchester and older cores:

DDR333, 2T command rate

Venice and newer cores:

DDR400, 2T command rate

* if using single sided RAM with a Venice core or newer then all 4 DIMMs may be used without a problem (but no one uses single-sided RAM)

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It should go without saying, but using only 2 DIMM slots will not hinder performance in any way. Always try and stick to only using two sticks of RAM whenever possible.

 

[slash196]

I'd go with the 2x1gb. The gig sticks will have higher latencies, but you can run them at ddr400 at 1t, so that offsets it.