1gb to 1.5gb or 2gb upgrade worth losing dual channel for?

RostokMcSpoons

RostokMcSpoons

RostokMcSpoons

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Joined
6 Oct 2005
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135
I've got...

ASROCK Dual Sata Mobo
Athlon64 3700
2x512mb Corsair Value Select @ 400mhz

No overclocking currently.


My friend has just replaced his 1gb with 2x1gb Corsair XMS and says his games are now much smoother, so I'm tempted to follow him.

Except I don't have much cash knocking around.

So I wonder if if it's worth losing Dual Channel mode to add another stick of 512mb (with perhaps a further stick to follow in a month or two).

Having searched these forums it seems it's possible I'll have to run the memory at 333 instead of 400, is that right?
And would losing Dual Channel impact performance much? I'll take a *small* hit in average framerates if I can remove stutters when moving around the map. (I typically play FPS games).

Any thoughts gratefully welcomed :)
 
Dunno about the 333 thing, i've ran 4 sticks at 400 fine in my board, 2 x Corsair XMS (2gb total) + 2 x OCZ DDR500 (underclocked to run with the 400 - 1gb total) for a total of 3gb, just to see if 3gb was any better then 2gb, and in my uses of 2gb, its fine for everything.

Only downside was losing 1t command rate, though i don't think you'd personally notice this difference, 2t is fine.
 
I found this guide very useful when i began overclocking and it cleared up a lot of info regarding 1t/2t and dividers.

It really is only a small hit of around 3%. I would gladly trade a 3% hit for silky smooth jerk free gaming anyday :)
 
Using all those different sticks (whether the same model or not) increases your chances of compatibility issues massively, Athlon 64s are really fussy about non-matched memory and that includes changes on a single model. Your mates buying a matched 2x1GB set is the way to go for compatibility, not just performance and re-sale value.
 
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