PC Ram Debate " Update" 1/9/2006

[eXo]

Hi umm i just needed you guy's to settle a debate between me and a friend of mine's.basicly he is looking to upgrade his ram.In bio's his memory bank's currently read's
512 unbuffered x8
512 unbuffered x8
256 unbuffered x16
256 unbuffered x16

the problem is that he want's to switch out another one of his 256 x16 and replace them with 512 x8.


Which One Will Offer The Highest Performance Value??

your looking at 1.5 GB of Ram vs 1.75 Gb of ram but three banks will be x8 http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: eXo on 2006-01-09 16:42 ]</font>

[VioletSkye]

X8 and X16 refers to the number of chips on the memory stick (and really doesn't make any real-world difference.) Personally I wouldn't do the upgrade and the reason is, (provided your friend has dual channel memory) in order to work in dual channel mode, you have to have 2 sticks with identical symmetrical DIMMS. Basically the following conditions must be met:

* Matched DIMM configuration in each channel
* Same Density (128MB, 256MB, 512MB, etc.)
* Matched in both Channel A and Channel B memory channels
* Populate symmetrical memory slots (Slot 0 or Slot 1)

If your friend breaks up the symmetry, he will be operating in single channel mode which will reduce his performance.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-01-06 18:28 ]</font>

[eXo]

So basicly he has to purchase a dimms pack of ram he cant just go 256,256,512,512 they have to come from the same production line?

[eXo]

but if he purchases another 512 ram then he can go 512 across the board? for 2 gig's right?

[VioletSkye]

Yeah if he already has a spare stick of the 512MB x8 and buys another stick of 512MB x8, he will have 2gigs of memory and retain the dual channel mode http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

BTW they don't have to come from the same production line or even the same manufacturer.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-01-06 18:42 ]</font>

[eXo]

yea that's what i figured well was not 100% percent sure but i told him that more is not alway's better

[VioletSkye]

I should point out that if he isn't running in dual channel mode, then it won't matter, in which case I'd say add the stick of 512MB (provided that the 256MB sticks aren't designed to be run as pairs.)



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-01-06 19:09 ]</font>

[eXo]

Just checked his bio's he's running in dual asymmetric mode http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif

[VioletSkye]

Dual channel asymmetric is not true dual channel (which would be dual channel symmteric,) in fact asymmetric is closer to single channel performance. It allows for different memory capacities into different channels and the memory controller will partially enable the dual channel access.

Try having him rearrange the ram so that the (2) 256MB sticks are in slot (0) for each channel (A and B) and the (2) 512MB sticks are in slot (1) for each channel (A and B.)


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-01-06 21:44 ]</font>

[eXo]

Yea he's not very computer literate but i managed to talk him into rearraning his ram not he is running on GB's in DC mode he was a little upset but i told him to just hold off until he get's another 512

[eXo]

well i took my buudy to fry's to pick up an additional 512 ram today and now he is running correctly 2.0 Gb Dual interleaved http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[VioletSkye]

Excellent!! http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[geewj]

What does a computer illiterate person need 2 gigs of ram for?

[eXo]

On 2006-01-09 17:18, geewj wrote:
What does a computer illiterate person need 2 gigs of ram for?



Increased performance he plans on playing high end games like Fear =)

[eXo]

oh yea plus his girlfriend is majoring in film http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif

[geewj]

On 2006-01-09 18:15, eXo wrote:
oh yea plus his girlfriend is majoring in film http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif



Yeah, there you go.

I've ran Adobe Premier with 512 RAM before. It's not fun.

[eXo]

On 2006-01-09 18:35, geewj wrote:


On 2006-01-09 18:15, eXo wrote:
oh yea plus his girlfriend is majoring in film http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif



Yeah, there you go.

I've ran Adobe Premier with 512 RAM before. It's not fun.


lol i can imagine