Convince me to add another gig of ram to my machine.

[Visable-assassin]

Specs on the rig currently are

opty 185@ 2.7ghz
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
2gb Corsair XMS 3200 PROXL (1gb x 2)
BFG 8800GTS
Gametheater XP (still cranking along!)

I have another XMS 3200LL Pro 1gb kit sitting here. It'll run with the stuff I have no with not one problem.
Now once installed Ill end up with a lovely 3gb of memory. Will I see ANY benefit to doing this? I game and run photoshop (which most would probably say do it) but Im playing everything from Diablo 2 to Oblivion (i play no battlefield). So help me out here guys, are there any pros or cons to doing this?

 

[f1y]

I'd assume your 2x1gb are dual channel... throwing another gig in may mess with those. I doubt you'd be considerably happy with 3 Gb of memory. But trying to sell used ram now you'd have to go cheap. So it either sits there or goes in the box. I'd benchmark, then throw in 3gb ands benchmark.. see what happens.

 

[Markyip1]

With dual channel memory, having an odd number of DIMMS installed is usually problematic. I'm not saying it won't work, but it won't necessarily work well. At best, you'll be limited to running your memory at single channel speeds, so while you'll have 50% more of it, the entire 3 gigs will run at 1/2 the speed. At worst, you're motherboard will throw a fit and you won't be able to use your system.

The extra gig will make a difference, however, especially with Photoshop. If you're system runs DDR-2 RAM, which is very cheap right now, you might want to consider giving that 1 Gig stick to a friend and buying a 1 Gig package of 2 512 Meg sticks. This will allow you to run with 3 gigs w/o issue.

Mark.

 

[engiNURD]

I saw a 1GB kit listed, so I'm assuming thats another 2 sticks of 512mb. On a 939/DDR system, using 4 memory modules will force a 2T command rate, which, on this platform, will slow things down just enough for you to notice it, however slight it may be. So, the question is, is the added capacity enough to show a performance improvement over the slower command rate? I doubt it since you're already at 2GB. However, try it for yourself. 2GB should be enough for photoshop and gaming right now. Did you disable your pagefile? that should speed most things up if you don't multitask too much, lol.

 

[Visable-assassin]

I saw a 1GB kit listed, so I'm assuming thats another 2 sticks of 512mb. On a 939/DDR system, using 4 memory modules will force a 2T command rate, which, on this platform, will slow things down just enough for you to notice it, however slight it may be. So, the question is, is the added capacity enough to show a performance improvement over the slower command rate? I doubt it since you're already at 2GB. However, try it for yourself. 2GB should be enough for photoshop and gaming right now. Did you disable your pagefile? that should speed most things up if you don't multitask too much, lol.

you are right the 2 gig kit is 1gb x 2 and the 1 gig is 512 x 2
To be honest I tried 1T and 2T and didn't really notice anything different. but now im really wondering about the added capacity and how it would work. The system is up and running 24/7 and I do multitask alot so making the pagefile go bye bye may not work so well LOL.
Ill have to give it a shot here in a little bit. But is there really ANY reason to NOT go 3GB if I can?

 

[engiNURD]

But is there really ANY reason to NOT go 3GB if I can?

The only reason would be compatibility and the 2T command rate. Again, if you don't notice the slower command rate, then go for it, lol. Most gamers, including me, noticed the slight difference between 1T and 2T while gaming.

 

[general]

You probably won't notice a difference. 2GB is the sweet spot for XP at least and like someone said, you might mess things up.