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Filling RAM Slots

P

Pt3000

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 5, 2004
Messages
251
I am upgrading my desktops 512mb RAM (DDR2700 2x256) to 1gb (4x256) [the 2 new dimms are 3200, but i got a 3.06 P4 so its compatible but i wont be seeing the increase in FSB if im not mistaken] because ram is so cheap, I play games but not really planning on any serious OCing or case mods, it's pretty much just a workstation. My question is is the drop off in preformance from filling the 4 RAM slots on my mobo significant (in terms of marks and or gameplay) enough that i should consider just waiting, saving, and purchasing two 512MB modules?

i've 'flipped' through the memory FAQ, and have a pretty soild background in comps so dont hold back, im just getting my feet wet with desktops again (ive used every from a com64 and up) but have been confined to the realm of laptops for the last 4 years. god i missed upgrading waaahooooo!

thanks,
Peter
 
There's actually people who thinkg it decreases, and there's others who say it increases. My general opinion is if the memory plays nice together....the added memory capacity (from 512 to 1024) will far outweight any other performance decreases.
 
Check your motherboard manual carefully for the specifics on populating your memory slots. Some boards get touchy about single-sided vs double sided DIMMs in certain slots. Some get touchy about running in Single-channel vs Dual-channel in certain configurations. There is no hard and fast rule, but RTFM about the specifics as they pertain to your board and you should be OK. Just assuming that because you have 4 slots you can add 4 DIMMS of the type you have may not work out...Murphy's Law always works against you. More often than not when RAM is involved.
 
Having more memory to address over several chips is less effective (in relation) to the same memory over less chips. So 2x256 is slower than 1x512 (assuming a non-dual channel setup). But given the choice of more RAM vs. less it's almost always better to go with more RAM, so 3x256 > 1x512. Make sense?
 
nice post hordaktheman,

real interesting article, im just gonna run the 4x256, i think ill fork out the $$$ when i build a strict gaming maching in the fall... now if only these new GPUs would drop so i could look into buying a video card, onboard is killing me :eek:)

thanks again,
P
 
holy canolies!!!:eek: you mean my 2gb of ram has actually been making my system run like shit without me knowing it! Are there any other articles to back this up at all, because this one was stating that in real time application 4x512 is actually dramatically slower than 2x512 and the whole time I thought and have read that populating all slots will decrease overall performance a bit, but 4x512 will always be higher in performance compared to 2x512s.

Geesh this just flipped my world upside down.
 
Wtf!!!:eek: Just tried running 2x512 PC3200 in my rig and the friggin rpms on my cpu fan shoot up like crazy. Normally between 3000 and 3600 rpm now running at 4900 idle.
 
That article is an interesting read. Please notice this from the article, in bold. "extra memory can reduce system performance if it is unused."

Let me ask you this, do you think those benchies used 2GB? I doubt it. If they did, you would see a major performance increase in the 2GB vs 1GB because the latter setup would be swapping out to the page file.

You fan speed thing... try a bios update, that's... odd...

edit: another thing, they are draw bad conclusions based on skewed testing. I wouldn't put too much faith in what your seeing. For example, they show you how ~bad~ it is to go from 1GB to 1.5GB on an AMD setup. Then they show you a memory bandwidth chart. Well, that mobo is DC capable, when they go to 1.5GB they are no longer in DC mode, if I recall correctly, and that will cut the memory bandwidth in 1/2, which it does... OK, so how does that affect performance? VERY LITTLE on that system. DC on an AMD setup yeilds ~3% increase. So the added bandwitdh isn't even used, so if it's cut in 1/2 who cares?
 
Oh, heh heh, the fan thing was kinda strange but I think it was partially my fault. :D For some reason when I removed 2x512 from my setup it wouldn't let me run performance mode or otherwise known as the PAT like tech in the P4P800 boards. So I set settings to default and it removed Asus Q-Fan control, thus the loud fan.
My current setup is an Intel board so I'm still wary about bandwidth, but then again I can't really tell the difference most of the time since I took out 2x512 PC3200 from my rig. SO I'm contemplating switching to 2x512 of the Mushkin PC3200 2-2-2 special (to bad it's not the level II PC3500 at that price), but I'm worried that those chips will be hard to find in the future if I do need to upgrade for some odd reason.
 
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