Can't get extra ram to work and is 2x2gb or 4x1gb best?

[johnners2981]

I saw some 4x1gb of pc2 6400 going for cheap so I thought I'd buy them and use 2x1gb to increase my systems ram to 6gb and sell on the remainder.

System specs
QX9650 @3.6ghz (400*9)
Asus p5q deluxe
Asus 5870
2x2gb ocz fatal1ty 800mhz
700w psu

But I don't think they are compatibile with my 2x2gb ram already in my computer, when I put the extra 2x1gb in the computer starts but I just get a blank screen.

The 4x1gb is ocz platinum revision 2 800mhz (4-4-4-15 on sticker) and the ram in my pc is 2x2gb ocz fatal1ty 800mhz (5-4-4 @2.1v on sticker). Installed the 4x1gb and it appears to have lower timings, is this causing the incompatibilty?

Is there a way to get them to work together? And if not which is better 4x1gb with lower timings or 2x2gb with two slots unused for potential upgrade?

Thanks

 

[jsc]

It's not unusual to run into problems mixing memory in a system. I would try setting the RAM voltage to 2.2 volts and manually set the timing to 6-6-6-18-2T.

At any rate, many Core2 motherboards seem to have problems with running memory in all the slots. That is why 2 X 2 GB is preferable to 4 X 1 GB.

 

[johnners2981]

Tried changing the ram settings but the only way to get 6gb of ram working is having them run at 667mhz and it seems my memory clock is tied to the CPU external clock but that ain't much good to me since I'm overclocking.
Well thanks for your response think I'll stick with the 2x2gb and sell the rest

 

[johnners2981]

Best answer selected by johnners2981.