Ignorance Unlimited: The RAM Challange

[nubeekb]

Hi,

Here is a tricky problem for me...see if you can suggest something with some logical and technical support.

I have an AMD X2 3800+ socket AM2 processor with ASUS M2N-E motherboard having NVidia 570 chipset. I presently have one single RAM card Kingston DDR2 667MHz having 512 MB Capacity. The MoBo has upto 8GB RAM facility with 4 slots.

Now, the problem:
Can I use DDR2 800MHz RAM in parallel to the existing RAM Card?
If I do so (e.g., add another Kingston DDR2 RAM 512 MB but having 800MHz bandwidth), what will be the pros and cons?

If I want to upgrade the total RAM to 2 GB, what would be the best possible way to do so?
1. Add 3 more DDR2 RAM 512 MB
2. Add 1 more DDR2 RAM 512 Mb, and another DDR2 RAM 1 GB

Your valuable advices will be sincerely appreciated.
By the way, I have a MSI Graphics card in PCI-E slot with NVidia GeForce 7300GS which uses upto 512 Mb Shared RAM.

Thanks in advance,

 

[yumi_cheeseman]

I'd actually suggest buying 2 1Gig sticks, that way in the future u can still upgrade to 4 GB, and it is roughly the same price.

 

[1Tanker]

I'd actually suggest buying 2 1Gig sticks, that way in the future u can still upgrade to 4 GB, and it is roughly the same price.

I would do this too, and see if you can sell the 512MB Kingston module which(although you will get next to nothing for it) will help ease the financial pain of the upgrade, a little. GL

 

[elpresidente2075]

You could do anything you wanted in that list you said there. But, like yumi and 1Tanker, buying two 1 gig sticks are the best idea for the system. You'd also be able to Dual-Channel it if you got matched sticks.

Side note: If you got an 800 stick to bring it to 1 gig (or more), you could overclock your current ram to the 800 speeds pretty simply. Just make sure to have a heat spreader on it, otherwise risk heat damage. Oddly enough, thats the exact same thing I have on my system right now, only with DDR. One DDR333 and one DDR400, overclocked to be both 400 to match my A64 proc. Unfortunately, since they are not the same company/latency/frequency the Dual-Channel mode is not possible.

Also, try not to share your ram, it'll take away from what is an already strapped for memory (in its current state) system, causing a slower experience. It should have 128-256MB built in, which is fine for all games that are playable with that core. Just disable the turbo-cache, or whatever they call it nowadays.

 

[mad-dog]

what he said, but don't bother with more than 2Gig.

 

[nubeekb]

Hi,

Thank you all. So I think I should speak with my vendor if he can getback my 667 MHz 512 MB RAM and then I may purchase 2 X 1 GB RAM Cards.
But elpresidente2075, I don't know how to disable the turbo cache of my Graphics card. The Model is MSI NX7300GS...can anybody help me? I could not find any such option in bios or the NVidia Software that was given with the Card.
Please help.

Thanks again,

 

[elpresidente2075]

Unfortunately, since I haven't any experience with the turbo-cache features of any pci-express card, I really don't know. It may, in fact, not even have it at all. This "feature" was included on the low end 6000 series and the X000 series cards (hypermemory for ATI) and it may even be totally removed/disabled in the current-gen. Just make sure the card isn't taking any of your ram when you have windows up. The system properties dialog should state that you have exactly as much as you have, rather than a number that is 32/64/128/256MB smaller.