Ram upgrade question

[vance]

Currently in my computer i have 2 sticks of CMX512 3200c2pt (corsair 400mhz ddr 512meg sticks) that are kind of old(two years)

im planning on upgrading my mobo and buying 2 more 512 sticks that are the same thing on the website
(http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=428726&sku=C13-4904)

so i can have a total of 2 gig of memory without having to buy 2 1 gig sticks (to save some money)

will i run into any problems using two newer sticks and two older sticks even if they are the same model? is it bad to use 4 sticks when two would work? will i lose any performance or anything?

 

[kwalker]

I guess the real question is what are you upgrading to using pc3200 ram?

If the motherboard is dual channel youll gain a little bandwidth.
All else is speculation not knowing the rest of your system specs.
you may loose latency and degrade performance from loading all four slots depending on the cpu/motherboard combination and power supply.

 

[Mondoman]

...
im planning on upgrading my mobo and buying 2 more 512 sticks that are the same thing ...

Numerous changes have likely been made in the specific chips used and minor design features of the modules, so you can no longer buy memory sticks "...that are the same thing." However, that shouldn't matter.

kw asks an excellent question. All non-obsolescent CPU systems (socket AM2 and LGA775) now use DDR2 RAM. If you are buying a new motherboard, you should buy one that supports current/future CPUs and memory. As memory prices are fairly high now, you should be able to get a decent price for your old RAM on eBay.