Upgrading to 1gig RAM

[GreatBarracuda]

I want to upgrade to 1gig of ram from the 512mb (2x256mb Kingmax DDR400 PC3200) I have currently. I wanted to know what would be better...two more 256mb sticks or 1 512mb stick. And I wanted to know if it will cause any problems to put ram from a different company together with what I have now..meaning do I HAVE to get Kingmax only or is it going to be allright if I get any other brand. And one last thing question is what would be the best configuration of these memory sticks on my motherboard (slot-wise)? This is my rig in case btw:

P4 3.0GHz (800FSB)
ASUS P4P800 DELUXE
512 DDR400 PC3200
120G S-ATA Seagate Barracuda
ATI AIW RADEON 9800 PRO
Creative SB Live! 5.1
19" ViewSonic P95f+

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Connoisseur]

It doesn't matter. Most P4 motherboards support single channel memory. which means you can stick in memory in any combination as long as they have the same specs. They can also be from different manufacturers. Just make sure that they have the same specs (latency timings at the same speed) or else the faster ram chip will downgrade to the slower one.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

I'd sell your two 256mb chips and get 2 512 meg chips (of the same type) and run 2x512 in dual channel (what I do).

 

[zodder]

If I'm not mistaken after reading Anand's article on P4 memory configurations, having all 4 slots filled yeilds better memory scores. I'll try to find the article and post it for you.

 

[zodder]

Here it is 🙂

 

[kamper]

Yeah, probably want to avoid an odd number of dimms if you can. GtPrOjEcTX's suggestion was a good one, especially as it will allow you to upgrade again later if you should want

 

[Brazen]

You can't argue with benchmarks...
If you want the best performance, add two more DIMMs of the EXACT same memory or find memory with the EXACT same specs. And be sure not to mix double-sided and single-sided DIMMS, get all of one or the other.

If your current DIMMS are good quality, I wouldn't waste your money by getting rid of them.