Upgrading from 2x512MB DDR PC3200?

[raygun57]

Team,

I have an old rig that I am still very fond of and prepared to splash a little cash on it. But as the tech is rather old, I need someone to cast their minds back (way back) to dredge up some helpful advice!

It was quite the performer in its day and I think it couldn't hurt to up the ram a little.

I am thinking of putting in 2x1GB sticks alongside the 2x512MB sticks I already have to give 3GB in total. Will this work or cause major performance loss? I am not worried about milking every last drop from the rig these days as it is in semi-retirement so not too worried about losing the benefits from a 2 stick dual channel setup

ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe based on Intel's 875P chipset
3.0Ghz P4 Northwood
2x 512MB OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 / 400MHz / Gold Edition / CAS 2
OCZ DDR Booster Diagnostic Device

Anyways, the plan is to remove the OCZ DDR Booster Diagnostic Device and put the OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) DDR 400MHz/PC3200 Platinum XTC Memory Kit CL2 2.8V in the two free slots.

Any thoughts (apart from the usual why are you wasting money on dead tech etc etc) on whether this is a good idea and tips (like which stick in which slot) on how to make it work?

Any help appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[reflux]

Make sure the chipset supports more than 2GB of RAM first.

 

[raygun57]

Good tip mate.

Checked it out and it's 4GB by all accounts. But isn't the limit for Windows XP Pro 32-bit 3GB?

Cheers

 

[reflux]

It's 4GB, but that gets depleted by the rest of the RAM in the system; so with 1GB graphics card for example, you would see only 3GB.

 

[raygun57]

Cheers, thanks for that.

 

[BeeP]

So chuck the old 2x512's & make it a 4gb rig

I just did a similar job on my old PC, it now runs with 2gb of RAM in it (1x1gb 2x 512mb) & it all works fine.

GL With it anyway.