Help on selecting memory for an upgrade.

[TES2312]

Hi im just about to upgrade my pc. ive made final decisions on all my choices bar one, memory. I am upgrading a pc so i already have some memory at my disposial although its old and not very good qulity. I have the cash to buy either a 1gb stick or a set of 2 512 sticks (both choices are pc3200/DDR400/200mhz)

I have in my system atm
1*512mb PC2700 chip (got it on the cheap years ago i think its samsung so probably poor qulity)

1*256mb PC2100 chip from crucial.

Im using the Foxconn NF4SK8AA-8EKRS motherbord in the upgrade which supports 4 sticks or DDR400 what i would like to know is should i:-

1)Buy the 1gb stick and put all the old memory in giving me 1.7ish Gb of memory and a free slot

2) Buy the 2*512 sticks and put all the old memory in giving me the same 1.7ish Gb of memory but no free slots

3)only use the 1gb stick

4)only use the 512mb pair

My pc is gong to be a mid/low end gameing pc (total uprade is going to cost about £250) and i want to get the best performance i can out of it.

If your interested in the other parts in the upgrade they are.

Amd 64 3800+ (skt 939)
Geforce 7600gs 256mb ddr2
Zalaman superflower
i have all the other parts i require on my old pc so a little money saved there.
THanks in advance
TES2312

 

[andybird123]

basically you'll have the problem that the slowest stick will drag the rest of the memory down to it's speed to operate, I have a suspicion that you'll get the best performance from having 3 512mb sticks and throwing the 256mb in the bin, but only testing will make sure

buy 2 512mb sticks (as AMD systems get a big boost from having matched pairs), download 3dmark06, run it, then stick the other 512mb and run 3dmark again, then stick the 3rd 256mb stick in and run again

see which of the 3 configurations is fastest and stick with that