Ram Question (newb here)

[thebadtouch321]

I just found out one of my crappy 512MB PC2700 RAM is faulty. I took it out, on NewEgg they have One gig for $75 and 512MB for $45. I only have one slot left.
However, I am looking at Microcenter and they have a PC3200 at $30. I am wondering if a PC3200 would work?

The company is Buffalo (tell me if it's reliable and capable with my PC model.. listed below)
512MB PC3200 DDR1 DIMM

The ones I have are for my emachines computer of T3256.

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums What brand and model is your motherboard? The reason I ask, is that you may have to account for dual-channel operation when you're picking out RAM.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Buffalo is a respectable brand, not necessarily stuff hardcore overclockers would ever use, but quite good enough for a standard system.

PC3200 DDR memory should work perfectly fine. Memory is backwards compatible with slower speeds (note that DDR2 is a different type of memory). There's a slight chance that the memory won't be programmed properly so that your machine will automatically detect the speed settings, but it's usually fine.

One thing to remember is that the nforce2 does work with dual-channel memory, although it's only a small improvement over single-channel, because of the way the Athlon XP bus works, but it can help if you're using the on-board video. In order to get the best performance out of it, you should use matching size modules in both slots. 1GB total memory should be enough for anything you'd be willing to run on an AthlonXP system. This assumes of course that eMachines used a mainboard that properly uses dual-channel, given that there's only two slots.

Since the cheapest 512MB modules on Newegg in PC2700 or PC3200 are over 30 dollars, you should be good to go with the one from Microcenter. Even Pricewatch doesn't list a better price.

 

[Ruptga]

For DDR and DDR2 you can mix and match memory speeds, the system will just run at the speed of the slowest stick. (ie a 333mhz and 400mhz stick in the same system, the system runs both sticks at 333mhz).

 

[thebadtouch321]

I am getting more memory just to play Counterstrike Source and do casual stuff like listen to music, browse internet, Trillian to talk to friends and just basic stuff. I do not do serious video editing. I have upgraded my card to a Nvidia 6600 GT AGP 8x 128MB, which is fine for my purposes.
___

I was really planning on getting just a 512MB stick. I have no idea about the way your talking about a dual-channel and whatnot. I'm guessing, both should be 512MB?

_

Ya, my memory currently is just "DDR", on the Buffalo one it says "DDR1" which I assume are the same.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom- and thanks for inviting me to the forums.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Using memory in dual-channel mode doubles the bandwidth to the memory. DDR is 64-bits wide, dual-channel makes the memory controller communicate with the memory as if it was 128-bits wide (although it works slightly differently with the nforce2). More bandwidth means more data can be transferred in less time, meaning better performance. In your case, it's not really going to make much difference, a percent or two.

So yes, 512MB would be good, but you wouldn't notice any performance drop if you went with 1GB. If you're actually using up 1GB of memory already (which you shouldn't be considering the resolutions you have to be running at with that CPU and video card), then having 1.5GB would be better performance. Even running all those apps at once won't normally use 1GB total.

And yes, DDR1 is the same as DDR. DDR1 isn't an official term, but manufacturers sometimes want to make it clear, so they don't have to deal with returns.

 

[thebadtouch321]

So the dual thing won't be as effective on my motherboard?
And getting that 512MB stick would only improve my performance by a percent or two? - I'm finding it less and less necessary to get the stick then. I never run all applications when playing intense demanding games.

 

[Lord Evermore]

I meant that running in dual-channel mode is only a couple of percent better. If you bought a 1GB stick, the nforce2 chipset actually does still run in dual channel; it doesn't need matched size modules like all the others, because of the way it does dual-channel. But this means dual channel is minimally useful for most people.

If your system is running fine with 512MB, then you don't need to get more memory. It won't make the system any faster UNLESS you use applications whose memory usage adds up to over 512MB.

It's easy to check for this. Once in a while, particularly when you have a few programs open, or you notice it seems to be slow or the hard drive is being accessed heavily for no apparent reason, open the Task Manager (in the stock XP configuration you just need to hit Ctrl-Alt-Del; in the classic setup, that will bring up a dialog box and you click the Task Manager button). Down at the bottom in the status bar it shows "Commit Charge". If that's over 512MB, then your system is having to use the pagefile (swap file) because it doesn't have enough physical memory. You'd benefit from more at those times. If it only rarely gets that high, then it might not be worth the money to you.

My own main system very very rarely gets up to 512MB, in general usage. I have 1GB just for the heck of it and just in case I actually find a good game to play one day.