Memory Upgrade Question

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Actuary

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Feb 8, 2005
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So right now I'm running an e6400@2.8 with 2gb of RAM, and noticedmy system maxing out on RAM while playing the Starcraft 2 beta. I don't really feel like doing a full Mobo/CPU/RAM upgrade right now, as the system works well enough for me for the time being. In all likelihood, I may do that upgrade in about a year.

So, that said, I'd like to expand to 4gb, but would obviously like to keep it cheap since any memory won't be reused in a more comprehensive upgrade. What, if any, issues would I encounter if I bought another 2x1 kit and popped that in, bringing my system to 4x1 gb? Might as well save the $60 compared to buying a 2x2gb kit if there won't be any issues.
 
No issues if you buy the same type RAM, though you'll rather inefficiently be using up all your DIMM slots. Future upgrading will thus be more difficult/expensive, but it sounds like that doesn't bother you.

Incidentally, how is SC2? I have the beta key but haven't tried it yet.
 
cbliss1000 said:
Incidentally, how is SC2? I have the beta key but haven't tried it yet.
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I'm having a pretty good time. Finally getting the hang of it; after jumping around the 3 races and starting something like 3-17 (yeah, I know), I started playing Terran consistently and am at 23-30, hopefully will get out of the Copper league when I get home today. :rolleyes:

For some reason, I just don't find zerg enjoyable to play. I know it's probably not the case, but I always feel like the other races have more units available.
 
Actuary said:
So, that said, I'd like to expand to 4gb, but would obviously like to keep it cheap since any memory won't be reused in a more comprehensive upgrade. What, if any, issues would I encounter if I bought another 2x1 kit and popped that in, bringing my system to 4x1 gb? Might as well save the $60 compared to buying a 2x2gb kit if there won't be any issues.
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As long as the new RAM and the old RAM have the same or similar timings and can be run at the same voltages safely, you should be ok. You may have to up the voltage to the MCH by a tiny bit to cope with the added RAM but that's easy to do.

I have the same mobo and I loaded 6GB of RAM on it without any issue. Just upped the "(G)MCH OverVoltage Control" by 0.1V and I was set. Hit up this guide on how to do that:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169366

Also, if you do stick with an AM2+ setup, you can reuse the DDR2 RAM unless of course you want to break completely away from DDR2 RAM.
 
Danny Bui said:
Also, if you do stick with an AM2+ setup, you can reuse the DDR2 RAM unless of course you want to break completely away from DDR2 RAM.
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Yeah, but how much of an upgrade is an AM2+ CPU from my e6400? If I upgraded, I'd probably go to either i7 or one of the 6-core AMDs, probably the i7 since it seems to still be the choice for performance.
 
Actuary said:
Yeah, but how much of an upgrade is an AM2+ CPU from my e6400? If I upgraded, I'd probably go to either i7 or one of the 6-core AMDs, probably the i7 since it seems to still be the choice for performance.
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Well do note that socket AM3 CPUs are backwards compatible with socket AM2+ motherboards and they can use DDR2 RAM. As such, you can use the six-core AMD Phenom 1055T in a AM2+ mobo and DDR2 RAM.

Well in games:
$70 - AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU: 7% Increase
$100 - AMD Athlon II X4 630 CPU: 8% Increase
$100 - AMD Phenom II X2 555 CPU: 20% Increase
$160 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 CPU: 30% increase

The above results were taken from this site:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=61

Unfortunately they didn't include Bad Company 2 which would have given a better indication that a quad-core CPU is an excellent choice.
 
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