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Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > Memory > [Solved] DDR2 800 4 x 1 or DDR2 1066 2 x 2

[Solved] DDR2 800 4 x 1 or DDR2 1066 2 x 2

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Memory [Solved] DDR2 800 4 x 1 or DDR2 1066 2 x 2

I am currently running windows XP and am getting ready upgrade to Windows 7. My Gigabyte MB currently has G Skill DDR2 2 x 1GB memory. I want 4 GB ram.

Would it be better to simply add two more 1 GB memory modules at DDR2 or would it be better performance to replace the current memory with DDR2 1066 2GB x 2 for a 4GB configuration? Would there be much noticeable difference regarding watching Netflix online and some games?

My CPU is an AMD Brisbane X2 2.7 GHz.

Thanks for your help.

Reply to toddstew

Is the change to DDR2 1066 gonna be noticeably faster? I could save a few bucks by going with the DDR2 800.

Reply to toddstew

Two modules is easier on a system than 4, right?

Reply to toddstew

do a google search there is a lot of info on this (ddr2 800 vs 1066) but really the difference will only be noticeable within benchmarks. How much money do you save by going with 800? if it's anything significant then go with 800, if its like 20 bucks then might as well go 1066

Message edited by amirp on 01-02-2012 at 12:01:04 AM

Reply to amirp

1) Maybe not in the near future, but later you might want to upgrade again. Buying four sticks of 1gb would mean you would have to get rid of them, so buying the two 2gb might save you money in the future.

2) There's nothing that says you can't have 6gb memory. As long as the 2x2gb ram has same specs as your current memory just go that route, if you have a 64bit os.

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Reply to pharoahhalfdead

pharoahhalfdead wrote :

Thank you for your suggestion.

I guess I thought that memory must be matched.

Reply to toddstew

he's right you can do what he said, but the 1066 memory would have to be run at 800 speed (you match it with the slowest module you have installed) so you may as well buy 2x2gb 800 ram since your existing ram is 800 right?

Reply to amirp

yes my existing ram is 800.

Reply to toddstew

what is the name and model of motherboard

Reply to scout_03

Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H

Reply to toddstew

see the cpu to the support note for the 1066 memory look at cpu list on link of card to find the bios you have is the same used with your board,you could also upgrade cpu with this board with bios upgrade

Reply to scout_03

actually, I have also considered a CPU upgrade.

Reply to toddstew

Glad I could give a useful suggestion. Do you already have a set of ram picked out that you are already looking at?

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to pharoahhalfdead

the mb specs cite : 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory .

Hence I should be sure to have memory rated at 1.8V, right?

Reply to toddstew

pharoahhalfdead wrote :

Glad I could give a useful suggestion. Do you already have a set of ram picked out that you are already looking at?

I have narrowed it down to

this Crucial http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148249

or this G SKill http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231166

Reply to toddstew

pharoahhalfdead wrote :

Glad I could give a useful suggestion. Do you already have a set of ram picked out that you are already looking at?

on a side note....I'm trying to figure out if the onboard video will support dual monitors.

Reply to toddstew

I think the mb on-board video will support 1 analogue+ 1 HDMI or 1 DVI.

I'm not sure what impact that would have one memory selection. If it makes a difference or not.

Reply to toddstew

if you are keeping your previous kit in and combining it with the new 4gb kit then I would get either of these, since there is no point in spending the extra 20 bucks for 1066. this is because you have to set the ram speed to the lowest modules you have installed, so if you have two 800 sticks and two 1066 sticks they will all run at 800.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148160

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231207

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Reply to amirp

amirp wrote :

Thanks for the recommendations. I think I'll go with the 2 x 2GB DDR2 800...for 6 GB ram. I never would have considered that to be a real possibility.

Reply to toddstew

The only thang I'm not sure of is if you have to place them in certain slots or any slot.

For example 1gb sticks in slots 1 & 3 but 2gb sticks in slots 2 & 4. That's the only thang I'm not sure of, but maybe one of the other fellas has that answer.

Reply to pharoahhalfdead

Gigabyte notes say "Note: Due to AMD AM2+ CPU limitation, DDR2 1066 is only supported by 1 dimm per channel."

I don't understand what this means. Does 1 dimm mean 1 DDR2 module?

Reply to toddstew

you could just use the 2x2 memory sticks for a total of 4 gig be good enough for this syystem and win 7 64 also the on board video will be good for only one monitor it will have trouble to serve two monitor.

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Reply to scout_03

scout_03 wrote :

Thanks...you answered question about Win 7 64 that I hadn't asked about yet. It's on my list of potential upgrades. looks like I'm gonna go with 2x2 DDR2 1066 and a cpu upgrade. I've decided that more cores may be more valuable than more memory.

Reply to toddstew

working my self with 7 x 64 on 4 gig without any issue at all

Reply to scout_03

is there any real benefit to having more than 4GB RAM with Win XP 32 bit. If I had 6GB of RAM would the extra 2 GB be available to the onboard video gpu?

Reply to toddstew

If you are moving to win7 soon, my advice is to go win 64bit. 4gb in vista or win7 is fine, but I know when I went from 4gb to 8gb my system ran smoother, and responded more quickly. It didn't speed up programs very much if at all, but thangs like multitasking, and general usage was much more favorable.

Even though I tweak my system, and minimize starter programs, with 4gb at windows start up I had about 30% memory usage, now it's down to about 16%. I don't feel the same lag that I used to feel.

My advice, install 6gb, if it works great, if not, stick with the 4gb. It only takes a few seconds to install/uninstall ram,

Message edited by pharoahhalfdead on 01-05-2012 at 11:30:01 PM

Reply to pharoahhalfdead

Best answer

There is a great article that expresses your very question. You can read the whole thang, or just read the first couple paragraphs on the last page. I hope this helps.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2778.html

When I had XP and 4gb ram, with 512mb descreete card, my properties shows 3.25gb ram. There is only a total of 4gb of system memory supported, which you probably aready know. So I'd imagine that onboard would be the same.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by pharoahhalfdead on 01-05-2012 at 11:17:23 PM

Reply to pharoahhalfdead

Best answer selected by ToddStew.

Reply to toddstew

pharoahhalfdead wrote :

There is a great article that expresses your very question. You can read the whole thang, or just read the first couple paragraphs on the last page. I hope this helps.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2778.html

When I had XP and 4gb ram, with 512mb descreete card, my properties shows 3.25gb ram. There is only a total of 4gb of system memory supported, which you probably aready know. So I'd imagine that onboard would be the same.

wow. that is an excellent article. greatly helpful. Now I'm ready to load up my mb with 16 GB of ram...it's frustrating that 4gb modules are still so expensive. I'll have to suffice with 6 gb for now.

Reply to toddstew

well...clearly is was oblivious...DDR3 4gb modules are dirt cheap. DDR2 4gb sticks are expensive. I may need to rethink this. I'm thinking i mb + RAM + CPU is all going to happen for less than 16gb of DDR2 RAM.

O my goodness. DDR3 is revolutionary.

Message edited by toddstew on 01-06-2012 at 05:11:39 AM

Reply to toddstew

Honestly, jumping to 6 or 8gb would be a huge leap for you. I think you would be pleased with the results.

I was like you thinking the switch to DDR3 would bring a huge increase in performance, but for me it was a waste of money.

I went from AMD x4 oc'd to 3.6ghz 8gb DDR2 @940mhz, to AMD x4 @4ghz with 8gb DDR3 @1660 mhz, and I haven't noticed a single difference. I switched bcuz I wanted a mobo with two PCIe x 16 slots. I regret the purchase.

Message edited by pharoahhalfdead on 01-06-2012 at 10:18:08 PM

Reply to pharoahhalfdead