RAM recommendation

Sudden · 7 May 2011 at 18:21

Thinking of finally upgrading my RAM to 4 gb. Made a thread about it aaaages ago but never ended up doing it at the time. I have two questions basically - Will I see any difference and which RAM should I get?

Currently have Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX, which I bought on here a very long time ago.

Rest of the specs are -

x6800 core 2 duo (slightly oc'd from 2.93 to 3.12).
evga 780i f.t.w. edition
evga gts 250
windows 7 professional 64 bit

I game a little bit, but not massively. When I do, I play games like ME, DA, UT3. Some RTS games as well, but not that many. Mostly old ones when I do (AOE 3).

Given all this, would I see any benefit from going to 4 gb?

If yes, then which RAM? Ideally, i'd like to just add 2 gb to my existing one as there are no problems with it and don't really want to waste it by buying 4gb and just leave this lying around.

Problem is, I can't seem to find the exact same RAM as listed above. The closest I can find is the C5 version of it instead of the C4. From what I understand, the only difference is timings. Would this still allow the new RAM to be comptaible with the old? Would I be able to combine them despite different timings?

Don't really want to spend too much on the upgrade. the C5 version I can find for around 30 quid.

stulid · 7 May 2011 at 18:35

Its easier to buy a new 2X2GB ram kit and sell the existing.

Sudden · 7 May 2011 at 19:43

I don't see there being a massive market for used ddr2 ram...

And buying a new 2x2 gb kit seems to be about 60 quid. If the old and new can be compatible, I don't see that much of a need to do this? Unless there is a big hassle with compatibility?

stulid · 7 May 2011 at 19:59

Sudden said:
I don't see there being a massive market for used ddr2 ram...

And buying a new 2x2 gb kit seems to be about 60 quid. If the old and new can be compatible, I don't see that much of a need to do this? Unless there is a big hassle with compatibility?

Adding more ram sticks can put extra strain on the memory cocntroller affecting overlclock potentials.

Surveyor · 7 May 2011 at 23:41

As you haven't got a massive overclock you should be OK but you may need to tweak some of the overclock settings if you install 2 more sticks of RAM.

If you put C5 in with the C4 then you'll have to change the memory timings as they both need to run the same. Likely you'll have to use the looser C5 timings.