1GB DDR PC3200 Vs. 2GB DDR PC2100 - Which Is Better?

[godbrother]

Hi, I'm breaking down my old PC's I have laying around, to build a super-basic gaming PC for my little brother.

I found a few DDR sticks laying around as of following:

1) 512MB x 2 DDR PC3200
2) 1GB DDR PC2100.

Adding them both together will get me 2GB of ram, BUT they in total will run at 266Mhz of having the 1GB stick present. Now the question is, which is better to have in the system, 1GB running at 400Mhz or 2GB running at 266Mhz for any type of task like multitasking or basic gaming like UT2004, Call of Duty 2 etc etc.

Regards.

 

[festerovic]

This is just my opinion, but I would rather have more RAM even if it were slower. The dif between 1gb and 2gb is noticeable on games (some will debate this). The RAM speed is less so.

 

[OvrClkr]

This is just my opinion, but I would rather have more RAM even if it were slower. The dif between 1gb and 2gb is noticeable on games (some will debate this). The RAM speed is less so.

I second that [:jaydeejohn:5]

 

[godbrother]

So... I'll through in the other gig then?... Any debaters on the subject?

 

[shamgar]

first of all you need to find out if your motherboard supports dual channel memory, because if so it will run a little faster with dual channel memory (2 sticks of the same size and density, or 4 sticks where 2 are the same and the other 2 are the same, like 2x512 and 2x1gb)
most games can play with 1gb ram on xp, however 2gb is probably a lot better and will outperform even dual channel memory if you are playing a game like world of warcraft even

 

[jitpublisher]

Yeah, for what you are building, from odds and ends, 2 gig would be better than 1 gig of memory, even if it was running on a slower bus. Since the buss speed of the processor you are going to be using is likely 266 or less as well, the slower memory isn't going to make much difference at all. But the difference from 1 gig to 2 gig is quite notable!

 

[OvrClkr]

The more ram the better....

Another option that will give you a great performance increase is buying 2 sticks of the same ram ex:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220079

just a thought......

 

[sminlal]

I agree with the other posters - more, slower memory is preferable to less, faster memory. The stuff that doesn't fit into memory will go into the page file, and that's a MILLION times slower than even the slowest RAM memory.

 

[godbrother]

Yeah, for what you are building, from odds and ends, 2 gig would be better than 1 gig of memory, even if it was running on a slower bus. Since the buss speed of the processor you are going to be using is likely 266 or less as well, the slower memory isn't going to make much difference at all. But the difference from 1 gig to 2 gig is quite notable!

Hi, its running along side the Pentium 4 3.0Ghz 2MB Cache LGA775 (800Mhz FSB)

 

[jitpublisher]

Hi, its running along side the Pentium 4 3.0Ghz 2MB Cache LGA775 (800Mhz FSB)

That would be an actual system bus speed of 200mhz, "quad pumped" to 800mhz effective to the processor.
Your memory must work over a 200mhz system bus, so 266mhz DDR will be absolutely fine for your build.