2x or 4x 512MB or else?

[powerbaselx]

Hi there!

My system has installed a Patriot LLK Dual Kit 2x512MB DDR1 CL2-3-2-5.
I use my system for "normal" applications and some gaming.
The most heavy game i play is FEAR which i play at 1024x768 and "almost" maximum quality. (The frame rate isn't much affected thus.)

I don't want to change the hardware (read CPU+MB) in next 18/24 months, but i'm thinking in upgrading its memory. (Disk performance is Ok, and it's a i531 P4@3.0GHz still Ok).

My question for your advice: is it worth to buy an equal Patriot LLK Dual Kit and install it getting 4x512MB (2T)?
Or, it's better to keep 2x 512MB only because it has higher performance with 1T and i save some money?


One last note: i know DDR2 it's the advised now for new systems, but i want to keep my system a little longer. When i buy a new system in a 2Y time, probably the DDR2 dimms i would buy for a reasonable price (max DDR2-800) now will be outdated then...

Thanks a lot!

 

[slicessoul]

IMO, there'll be some performance increase on 1GB RAM. You can buy 2 more sticks of 512MB, and would be better if you can have the same timings so there won't be any bottlenecking.

 

[powerbaselx]

IMO, there'll be some performance increase on 1GB RAM. You can buy 2 more sticks of 512MB, and would be better if you can have the same timings so there won't be any bottlenecking.

About timmings... if i install a new Patriot Kit 2x1GB LLK, is it supposed to keep the same timmings?

 

[RichPLS]

I would just add 2x 512MB chips to your current 2x 512MB chips... since you want to hang on to that PC for another year or two...
Currently, I am overclocking an Opteron 175 at 2.64GHz using 4x 512MB Corsair DDR chips... similar reason too which is why I added the former 2x 512MB chips...

 

[powerbaselx]

I would just add 2x 512MB chips to your current 2x 512MB chips... since you want to hang on to that PC for another year or two...
Currently, I am overclocking an Opteron 175 at 2.64GHz using 4x 512MB Corsair DDR chips... similar reason too which is why I added the former 2x 512MB chips...

And one more question: to keep that PC for another year or two, is it worth to install 2x 1GB instead of 2x 512MB?

The reason of the question relates to near gaming over Windows Vista which is expected to consume lots of memory (much more than XP now).

Thanks!

 

[RichPLS]

Vista has more memory requirements, but 2 gig will run Vista fine... more would be better too. It depends on your usage...
But if you got the dough, then adding 2gigs to your current 1gig would be better still...