Memory help for a noob

Dbrown

Dbrown

Dbrown

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20 Nov 2008
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4
Hi Guys,

I wonder if you can help me.

I am looking to add extra memory to my system and i currently have:
"2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2 DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) CAS 4-4-4-12 DHX"

The problem I have is that my fan/heatsink is covering one of the spare RAM slots.
As I cant find the same memory in 1gb sticks, it seems a waste to buy another 2x1GB just to leave one spare.

Ive seen that corsair do the "Corsair XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), CAS 5-5-5-18 (without the fancy heatsink)" in 1GB sticks.

If I purchased one of these and ran it alongside my other memory, would it cause any problems? especially with it being CAS5.

Would it prevent my other memory from being in dual channel mode at all?


Thankyou for your help in advance :)
 
Ok thanks :)

So If i bought another stick of the same memory, and used only 1 of the free slots (3x1gb) as aposed to 4x1gb, would that slow down my other memory at all?
 
Whatever the operating system you use always have the same ram compatability. So, for XP have a nice fast 2gb, Vista I'd spec around 4 fast gb. Just make sure its the same stuff, therefore no confliction.
 
I'd go fo the exact same ones you have now- just to be safe. Having identical sticks minimizes the chance of incompatibility between the sticks.

Flog the other unused stick on the 'bay, or keep it as a spare incase something should go terribly wrong in the future. :D
 
Using 3 out of your 4 slots will mean you will take a performance hit from not running in dual channel mode. Dont know exactly how much of an impact it would have but from reading around its about 5% and not really noticable to the average user.

You could manually slacken the timings of the ram you already have and run them at 5-5-5-18 timings or overvolt and overclock the new ram to tighter 4-4-4-12 timings but there is no guarantee that would work and its not ideal.

Your best bet is as above to flog your current ram and buy 2x2Gb kit and feel the full benefit of 4Gb Ram in Dual Channel.
 
I currently have the same Corsair as you, and I bought 2x2GB of the 5-5-5-18 OCZ stuff. They are indeed running in Dual Channel mode, at 5-5-5-18, albeit a tad bit overclocked.

It's basically about finding settings that both kits can agree on. Once you have that, you're good to go!
 
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