I want to order ram for a new system. I will probably go with 4GB in 2 sticks. But I was wondering if I buy 2GB now (2 sticks) and 2 later for a total of 4 sticks if the system might not be able to get OC'd as high due to the fact more ram sticks are being refreshed. I also wonder if simply by having more ram in 2 sticks is less stable, but I think it's fine as it's been mentioned now. It's mostly the idea of 4 sticks that worries me. I want a super stable system.

I'm wondering if the memory timing will have to be set to a slower refresh. Perhaps they would be different than OC'ing with 2GB? Does anyone know? I feel like the P5K-e will probably do a good job, but I'm not 100% sure.

If memory refresh is a tiny bit slower than 2GB it doesn't matter, I'd still be happy with 4GB. But I do want to be able to reach 3.6ghz. If this causes problems, I'd then go down to 2GB even though I wished for 4. This will be built into an Asus P5K-e with Q6600, G0 stepping with lots of cooling. Below are links to what I found and also Maziar was nice enough to post a suggestion. thanks.

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The two choices I'm looking at:
2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145034
4GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145176


Here is Maziar's suggestion for ram from other post. He said 2GB timing was better, but go 4GB anyway. He posted timings, so that's what made me begin to wonder about it vs 2GB:

OCZ REAPER 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 RAM with 4-4-4-15 timings:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227267

AFAIK, its not the total amount of ram u have, but the number of sticks.

U should get the same results from 2x1gb as u will from 2x2gb, as u still have 2 sticks all up.

Timings only need to be loosened if u OC the ram.
U may need to run higher voltages too, i do (4x sticks)

I second that.

I could have explained it better. Sorry for the confusion. What I mean is that if I buy 2GB in 2 sticks with the intention of buying 2 more sticks later for a total of 4GB, is that less stable because it's 4 sticks? Or harder to over clock? It's not really more ram, but it's more sticks.

I know in the past, back in 2004, that I had problems with 4 sticks vs 2. But I wonder if it's still the same story in 2008 with this new P5k-e motherboard and the new rams. I'll edit my post above to make it more clear hopefully.

Thank you very much for the info on loosening when OCing the ram mrmez, plus the voltage tip. I will keep that in mind when OCing. Thanks to Dunkel too

I've read that 4 sticks rather than 2 will hinder your overclocking,
but strangely, my system isn't any more stable when I have my
four sticks of Crucial Ballistix than when I have only two sticks in the slots.

No effect on my OC. Sometimes the RAM needs to be clocked down or the timings raised when you have 4 sticks in. Perhaps some OCs might be affected but I suspect you would see that more in extreme, to the limit, OC with a very high FSB.

Thanks guys for the input. I've heard stories either way. Notherdude it sounds like it will work then. So I guess at some point I'll have to just order them and hope they work out. If not, I'll return them. I tried to get every last detail right before ordering, but sometimes you have to just try things. Thanks again.