A question about ram upgrade !

A

Atlantis

Disciple
Hi !

I wish to upgrade my ram although I am still using a 32 bit os. With the advent of dd3 I assume that the ddr2 modules would get scarce. I needed some info with my current config, what options do I have ?
 
if you increase your ram to 4GB, then in 32bit WindowsXP it will use only 3.25GB.
To fully utilise the entire 4GB you will need to install a 64-bit OS.

your motherboard has 4 DDR2 memory slots so you can keep your current memory stick and add another one. preferably of the same company/model to increase chances of a dual channel configuration.
 
Thanks for replying priOng !

I am not too comfortable with 64 bit os since the issue of compatibility with games, I prefer to just install and play rather than mess with the settings.

I wished to know, should I go in for a single module of 2 gb or 1x1.
Since I am using transcend ram should I use the same or go for corsair, since the price difference would not be that much.

Even if the os only reads 3.2 gb would it make a difference in performance or only negligible.
 
Yes you will see a slight difference in performance. There'll be no issue in going 64-bit. I have the same processor as yours and with an 8800GTX and 4gb of RAM. I used to run Windows Vista 32-bit, now I'm using Windows 7 64-bit Pro with no problems at all. Threw in 2gb of Kingston 667 MHz DDR2 to my existing 4gb of OCZ Platinum 800MHz. Running all the sticks at 800Mhz now and I still don't have problems.

But do try to get similarly rated (Atleast speed if not timings) RAM.
 
Hi grajasekar

Could you be a little more specific, did you use 2 x1 gb modules or a single 2 gb module , and what were the specifications of the older ram.
And how did you manage to run the ram at 800 mhz , correct me if I am wrong : won't all the modules run at the slower speed ie 667 mhz.

What about dual channel ? How many slots ?

thks plan to upgrade soon .
 
grajasekar said:
Yes you will see a slight difference in performance. There'll be no issue in going 64-bit. I have the same processor as yours and with an 8800GTX and 4gb of RAM. I used to run Windows Vista 32-bit, now I'm using Windows 7 64-bit Pro with no problems at all. Threw in 2gb of Kingston 667 MHz DDR2 to my existing 4gb of OCZ Platinum 800MHz. Running all the sticks at 800Mhz now and I still don't have problems.

But do try to get similarly rated (Atleast speed if not timings) RAM.
Click to expand...

How you over clocked or something I thought all the RAM on addition of a slower RAM resets to the lower clock. :no:

And one more thing you need to put the RAM sticks in a particular fashion to facilitate Dual Channel how did you do that by adding two different brands, I thought we can have instability issues how did you overcome those :S
 
ALPHA17 said:
How you over clocked or something I thought all the RAM on addition of a slower RAM resets to the lower clock. :no:

And one more thing you need to put the RAM sticks in a particular fashion to facilitate Dual Channel how did you do that by adding two different brands, I thought we can have instability issues how did you overcome those :S
Click to expand...

I am a little confused any more suggestions to go !
 
ALPHA17 said:
And one more thing you need to put the RAM sticks in a particular fashion to facilitate Dual Channel how did you do that by adding two different brands, I thought we can have instability issues how did you overcome those :S
Click to expand...

Brands don't matter. It is the specs which do. For dual channel, they need to be put in similar channels - most mobos today have a color coding for each channel in the memory slots. Putting similar size [not speed] RAMs in these would make most modern mobos utilise dual channel, of course at the lower of the two clocks. Additionally, there are / were some Intel mobos capable of extracting dual channel from disparate RAM modules too, taking the lower of the two for dual channel and the rest as a single module.
 
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