RAM question...

[thejc]

I'm currently in need of a RAM upgrade and need a little advice. I only have 1 gig (2 512 mushkin pc3200 DDR 2-2-2 sticks) right now and I'd like to upgrade to 2 gigs. I've been told that running 4 sticks at once can slow you down. Any truth to that? Would it be best to just get 2 new 1 gig sticks? How about if I bought 2 new 1 gig sticks and also used my current two 512 sticks? Would that be slower than just running the new 2 gigs?

Thanks...

 

[ribbon13]

That depends on your platform

Chipset/processor?

 

[thejc]

I have an Athlon 64 4200+ X2 processor and an nForce4 board...

 

[Googer]

Get the 2 1GB sticks and keep your two 512 MB DIMMs, that way you will have 3GB! And if it feels slower then remove the two 512MB sticks and just stay with 2GB. But only benchmarks can prove a differance so you be the judge.

EDIT:
Also your processor supports DDR500/PC4000 so get two 1GB DDR500 sticks and enjoy. Ditch the 1GB!

 

[ribbon13]

Yeah, 4 sticks is bad.

I'd buy 2x1GB, and sell your old stuff off to recoup some of the cost.
($213) Everyone will tell you to stick with DDR400
($249) Best bang for your buck. DDR500.
($156x2) End all be all to DDR RAM. Not worth it IMHO

 

[thejc]

Thanks for the advice. One more question: Can I mix DDR 400 with DDR 500??

I just bought my new chip, mobo and video card but still have my old ram. I'm finding that I really need to upgrade the RAM to get the full performance.

 

[nugglets]

mixing different speeds of ram will cause them all to run at the lowest speed. so in this case the DDR500 would run at DDR400 speeds.