quick computer memory question...

[kennydoe]

hey all


I'm putting together a music computer. i have 224MB in there now (!) and obviously the comptuer is choking a bit.

I want to upgrade to 1GB RAM. I see that sometimes it's sold as one DIMM and sometimes it's sold as 2x512 DIMMS.

Is there an advantage to one way or the other?

Thanks.
~Kenny

[lyconxero]

Depends on what is cheaper and what your system can support. If your system has two free slots and it's cheaper to get two sticks, then go for it. But if it's cheaper to get the one stick or you just have one free slot then get the single. Assuming they are the same type of RAM (SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM) then there should be no difference in their performance.

[Polaris20]

There is a difference.....sometimes. If your motherboard supports dual channel DDR, then two sticks of 512 will perform better than one stick of 1024MB.

If it doesn't support dual channel, then it does just come down to cost issue, and the ability to upgrade further down the road, i.e. putting yet another 1gig DIMM in there.

[kennydoe]

Hmmmm....well, it's not a NEW system, that's for sure. The board is an ASUS P4SC - i 'inherited' it from my girlfriend when she upgraded.

It's got 2 DIMM slots, one of which has the 224 in it, but i'll be taking that out and probably putting it elsewhere.

I found a 1GB single DIMM for $55USD. I know this mother board takes PC2100.

I see what you're saying about the dual-channel. I'll have to try to figure out if that's the case or not. If anybody has quick-access to this info, please post.
thanks!
~Kenny

[dragsternj]

Ram Chips are sold in 256MB pieces. There is no 224MB

For memory and info have a look at www.crucial.com

[kennydoe]

i thought that too, but the system info says '224MB RAM'.

Not really important to this topic, however.
~k

[jemsite]

224 is cause some is reserved by the bios.... irrelevant.

add 1GB chip. that is relatively slow memory and dual channel support (very unlikely) won't make any difference. you can sniff your motherboard at crucial.com if you like

then you'll have 1GB + 256 MB ...glen

[AirGuitar]

Originally Posted by dragsternj

Ram Chips are sold in 256MB pieces. There is no 224MB

For memory and info have a look at www.crucial.com

Sounds like there a 256MB module in there, but im guessing he's got on onboard graphics card using some of the system memory instead of its own.

[kennydoe]

I ordered the 1GB DIMM - waiting for it to arrive. My plan was to pull the 256MB out when i put the 1GB in just in case they don't 'play nice' together. Is memory still finnicky like that? I've been out of the hardware loop for a while.

~Kenny

[Dead-Eye]

Sometimes...just try both, it's likely that it'll work, if not you can still remove it later.