Will 2 different pairs of RAM work?

[Billy3275]

I have a Dell Dimension 8400, and I was wondering if the Dual channel will work if I bought a pair of 1GB sticks that are PC2-5300 DDR2. The current RAM I have are DDR PC2-5300 256mb, DDR PC2-3200 256mb , and DDR PC2-3200 1GB.

If I buy a pair of DDR2 PC2-5300 1GB, and buy 1 gig of DDR PC2-3200 later, will the dual channel work?

Shorter version of my question : Will 2x 3200 and 2x 5300 work together?

 

[505090]

it will work but it will all run at the lower speed why not try something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231120

 

[Billy3275]

What if they were all 1GB and ran at 667MHZ? Oh, and what exactly does the Dual channel do? Any significant differences?

 

[505090]

dual channel allows the computer to access both banks at the same time thus doubling the effective bandwidth. Only works if the sticks within each bank are identical.
bank 1 = slot 1 + slot 3
bank 2 = slot 2 + slot 4

would work with 4 sticks but two sticks is more stable

 

[Billy3275]

Sorry, I forgot to mention in my last post that there is a 1gb max per slot. Is the Crucial scan accurate? If so, I guess that's all I'll be needing, thanks.