Metall_pingwin;4136543Yes, the best choice would be to have three gigs with your old memory, but remeber, make sure to do it like this: ---512--- ---1gig--- ---512--- ---1gig--- not: ---512--- ---512--- ---1gig--- ---1gig---
Okay thanks for the info, despite my less-than-perfect asking of the question.
Metall_pingwin;4136543Yes, the best choice would be to have three gigs with your old memory, but remeber, make sure to do it like this: ---512--- ---1gig--- ---512--- ---1gig--- not: ---512--- ---512--- ---1gig--- ---1gig---[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=hockeywarrior2;4137206]Okay thanks for the info, despite my less-than-perfect asking of the question.
Despite what pingwin said, not all boards use that layout. Generally speaking the slots will be color coded (i.e. two one color and two another) to show you where to install the memory.
So if two slots are purple and two slots are green, you could put the 1GB sticks in the purple slots and the 512MB sticks in the green slots. Those are just random colors to illustrate my point, they could be any color. It doesn't matter whether you do 1GB first or 512MB first, as long as they're paired up in the right slots.
If they're not color coded then your best bet is to look it up in the motherboard manual.
Bs|Archaon;4137297Despite what pingwin said, not all boards use that layout. Generally speaking the slots will be color coded (i.e. two one color and two another) to show you where to install the memory.
So if two slots are purple and two slots are green, you could put the 1GB sticks in the purple slots and the 512MB sticks in the green slots. Those are just random colors to illustrate my point, they could be any color. It doesn't matter whether you do 1GB first or 512MB first, as long as they're paired up in the right slots.
If they're not color coded then your best bet is to look it up in the motherboard manual.
Yeah thanks for your help, but I know all this about using RAM.
I suppose what my original question was really about how much more effective RAM in dual-channel is than the same speed and memory worth of RAM not in dual-channel. I was given UT3 and Crysis for X-mas and am eager to try them out on my PC. The extra RAm should help things, but that's why I was curious about dual-channel vs no dual-channel. My specs:
Windows XP Professional Sound Blaster Audigy AMD Athlon 4400+ X2 2.2 Ghz Geforce 8800 GTS 320 MB Currently 2 gig RAM (non dual channel) 250 gig SATA HD
hockeywarrior2The extra RAm should help things, but that's why I was curious about dual-channel vs no dual-channel
Dual channel is much better than single channel ram. Running your ram in dual channel can effectively double your maximum memory bandwidth. You won't see double the performance though, the performance increase you will see all depends on what your doing with your system.
It's really just a theoretical gain. Some performance tests have shown that the benefit of dual-channel RAM is not seen over single-channel RAM.
However, I'll still believe that it does provide some benefit, even if it is not double the bandwidth.
But Apollo is right, even if you do see an increase in effective bandwidth, that doesn't always mean that performance is better. But it won't show any decrease in performance, so what the hell.
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