Adding More Ram

[hellbringer]

ok i have some corsair pc-3200llpt 512mb. this is on a asus a7n8x deluxe.

ok so i cann't find any of this exact stuff anymore...and im not sure if i even want more of it because its $142 for one chip of this stuff. i figuer my money would be better spent if i got a gig of corsair instead of just 512.

so from what i can tell this is pc3200 ddr 400 memory.

the question:

can i add any pc3200 ddr400 memory in the other slots along side this?
my main concern is i will be using different timings...i will be having really fast ram 512mb. then i will have a gig of some slightly slower stuff.

so whats pro's con's can this be done ect.

[waheed]

Your PC will be limited to the speed of the slowest ram (which is the bottleneck)

[redwudz]

I would just put it in. Unless you are overclocked I doubt you will notice a difference with the CPU you are using.

You would probably be looking for non EEC, non registered memory with a CAS of 2.5. Unless your BIOS was set for CAS 2.0 along with the proper RAM timings, and you were running at a 400Mhz bus speed or OC settings, you may have not been utilizing the speed capability of your existing memory anyway.

[hellbringer]

just checked and the timing was 2226

this 1gb of ram im lookin at its 2 512mb sticks for $115 its timeing is 2336 3200C2PT corsair.

u think i will notice much of a decrease by putting that in with my other ram? i mean it will be at a little slower timeing but i will also have an extra gig of ram so shouldn't everything run faster?

[rallynavvie]

but i will also have an extra gig of ram so shouldn't everything run faster?

Not really. Are you utilizing all 512MB that you have got in there now? Unless you have got a use for all that memory it won't speed anything up. I think the idea of "more memory solves problems" died with Win2k. It's just a fallacy now, a marketing ploy.

Run your Task Manager minimized for a while and take note of which apps run up what sort of memory utilization. The only game I've ever seen that like a lot of memory is BF1942 which seems to load as much map as you have memory so it can have more are pre-fetched for your video card. I've seen over 1GB physical memory used on some of the bigger BF1942 maps. Oddly doesn't seem to be the case with BF:V so I wonder which it'll be for BF2 (the only game I'm looking forward to this year). Adobe and Corel apps seem to love memory if you're working with big files with a lot of layers.

[hellbringer]

well im a heavy gamer and i have lots of apps open at the same time.

total-523760
avaliable- 180636

that is what task says, and thats with prob about half my apps open so it would prob be around 160 with all of them.

then to run a game ontop of that...well its not leavin much.

now someone said that my fast ram will slow down for the slower ram...but what if i overclock the slower ram.

fast ram is 2226 and the slow is 2336 i would think it shouldn't have aprob getting to 2226 but maybe im wrong.

so would i be better with another 512 226 or 1 gig 2336 maybe overclocked to 2226.

and there is a game coming up that i think will prob use alot of ram and thats oblivion. right now im running hl2 and css and it loads kinda slow and graphics are like half way setting.

[rallynavvie]

Most games now seem more interested in GPU and CPU speeds to draw everything on the fly. Doom 3 was such a game, didn't seem to reflect memory much. However on your system leaving applications open which could grab at threads while you're playing games is what is slowing your performance. Any open processes are going to interfere with gaming.

However if you're looking to build a new machine to cope with such demands I may be able to help

[rkr1958]

I think the idea of "more memory solves problems" died with Win2k.

Since I'm running W2K on my main "workhorse" computer I'm cursious to what you're referring. Thanks.

[rallynavvie]

I was just using Win2k as a time reference more than anything. Before Win2k came out memory was really pricy. Filling up to the max on memory on those older machines was pricey whereas now we can fill up on memory at pretty good prices. Also back then the OS was always starved for memory so adding more was usually a good thing, however now people are starting with ideal or near-ideal amounts and still wanting to add more. At some point your system is going to have trouble addressing all that empty space if you aren't utilizing it.

But mostly it's a cost issue. If you never use the memory in your machine fully now then why add more? Spend it on something that could use upgrading, like your video card or power supply.

Funny anecdote: I was playing FarCry online the other day and some guy on there was talking about how he bought 4 sticks of 2GB PC3200 DIMMs for a grand total of 8GB of memory and how his gaming performance was just phenomenal. First off I knew he was lying (or stupid) because only server chipsets can run more than 4GB and he said he was using an 865 board. Secondly FarCry is hardly a memory-intensive game, in fact it gets the surprising performance from minimal hardware. Also larger DIMMs are slower timings. 2GB DIMMs are awfully slow, and I think they're only registered and ECC sticks.

[zak_swan]

more memory is better, makes things faster and is pretty cheap.
buy it stick it in and be happy.
if probs take old one out.