Buying RAM

slackaddict · 11-10-2005, 03:07 AM

Hi. I currently have 1 stick of 512M PC3200 in an Asus A7N8X-X motherboard. I want to buy another stick of 512M PC3200 to give me 1G total. The ram in there now is called "twinmos" and is not very common around here. Will I have any problems if I buy some Kingston or some other brand and use the two together? (Bearing in mind they will be the same size and speed)

Cheers

J.W. · 11-10-2005, 03:15 AM

Personally I'd recommend using identical sticks (same brand, model, size, speed) but of these characteristics a consistent speed is the most important. Your system can only operate at the speed of the slowest component, so if stick 1 is 400Mz but stick 2 is 333 Mz, your effective speed will be 333Mz.

Assuming you are using two similar sticks, eg, same speed and size, you'll probably be OK. Worst case is that you install the extra sick and your system becomes unstable. In that scenario, just remove the new stick and you'll be back to where you are now. Good luck with it

syg00 · 11-10-2005, 03:32 AM

If your answer ain't in this thread, there ain't an answer ....

slackaddict · 11-10-2005, 08:57 AM

Yep, that thread certainly gets into it pretty deep

I'm sure it would be best to have completely matching memory so I'll look arounda bit more before I do anything. If I can't find any then the most important thing will be to make sure I can return the RAM if it dosn't work.

Hell, maybe I should just get 2 new 1G sticks .... what with Quake 4 being released and all

Electro · 11-10-2005, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by slackaddict
Yep, that thread certainly gets into it pretty deep

I'm sure it would be best to have completely matching memory so I'll look arounda bit more before I do anything. If I can't find any then the most important thing will be to make sure I can return the RAM if it dosn't work.

Hell, maybe I should just get 2 new 1G sticks .... what with Quake 4 being released and all

Buffered RAM have to be used when reaching over a gigabyte of memory. You can use unbuffered and none ECC for 2 GB of total memory but there will be hiccups during use.

You should get 433 MHz memory when using with a 400 MHz bus. You should not over clock memory because it does screw up data over time. It is better to under clock memory for an increase stability during use.

slackaddict · 11-12-2005, 01:38 PM

Well, I thought I'd post the results...

The guy at the local shop didn't have any Twinmos, but he said I'd have no problem running the Kingston and Twinmos together, and I was welcome to return it if I wasn't happy. So its installed and everything is sweet, computer runs heaps better and there was a very noticeable improvement playing Doom 3.

So far, so good. I'm very happy