Ram question with ASUS mobo

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mysvxrocks

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I posted this in another section, but no one is helping me out. Hopefully someone here can.

Ok, so from what I understand, windows XP will only see a MAX of 3 gigs. I have a mobo that supports dual channel memory, and so far have 2 sicks of 1gig. I would like to fill the other 2 slots, but can I do it with 2 sticks of 512? Or do I have to exactly match whats in the other 2 slots?

My motherboard is an ASUS M2N32 SLI Deluxe

This is the ram I currently have....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034

And these ones have the EXACT SAME voltages and timings, just different speeds. So my question is... could I put these in with 2 sticks of 1gig, for a total of 3 gigs, in dual channel? Or do I HAVE to buy 4 gigs, with the loss of 1.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145040


Thanks for the help. -Dennis
 
Technically you can throw those (RAM at second URL) in there with your current 2 sticks. It's not best practice to mix and match RAM though. You should try to get your hands on another stick of what you have already. Although, I know it can be tough to hunt down the exact same RAM after you've had it for a while.

The links you provided are broken but I was able to hunt down the 2 I believe you meant to post.

Please verify:

You currently have - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034

But you're looking at - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145040

I'm not sure what you're running on your machine to need an extra 1GB of RAM on top of the 2GB you already have. But what kind of performance increase are you expecting to see?
 
Thanks for fixing the links, the ones you provided are correct. I wasnt expecting much of an increase, just some. Mostly Im playing games, and working with photoshop/dreamweaver. Ram is just so cheap at the moment, that I thought.. why not.
 
It is a matter of opinion but I see no reason why you cannot - all I have ever heard is that the larger modules go in the 'a' banks and the smaller in the 'b'.

If you install a single third 1 Gb you lose dual channel.
 
Yes it's possible to add another GB of ram to your board, and it's also possible to add another 2GB of ram to your board for a total of 4GB of memory, but to do that you'd have to make the Windows cache go away. Windows counts virtual (hard drive) memory as part of the total system memory, and 32bit operating systems can't usually address more than 4GB of memory.

I just don't know if any or all of your programs would still work without a Windows cache.

Even if you did install 4GB of memory, Windows would reserve 2GB for its self and leave 2GB for other program usage. *EDIT* Not completely true, apparently you can configure Windows XP Pro to leave 3GB of memory available for other program usage.. /*EDIT*

I have an extra GB of memory I'm gonna try to install in my 2GB machine tonight. I'll delete the cache and see what happens.

One last thing. I would go into your motherboard BIOS and reset everything to default before you add any more memory. I tried to install an extra GB on my 2GB machine a few weeks ago without first resetting the BIOS and it hard locked on me. I had to clear the CMOS and take out the extra memory to get it running again. Course my extra GB of memory is very different from my base 2GB set, and that may have caused the problem.

I add this for confirmation on Windows XP memory limitations.
 
Sometimes when you mix and match RAM your computer performance can diminish. Your mobo will support up to 8GB of RAM. Windows will definitely recognize 4GB of memory.

Windows XP will always use a bare minimum 512MB+ of hard disk space up to 2GB just for the OS, regardless of amount of RAM installed.

As long as the 2 new pair are equal it'll be fine. So I would suggest getting 2x 1GB RAM chips that are close in specs as the others. I know it's a little more costly but should be worth it in the end.
 
As long as the 2x512mb sticks are a matched pair and have the same specs of the 2x1GB sticks it will work fine. That's what I did. Especially if you go to Vista which I have. Vista handles ram different than XP. If you have 2GB+ ram up to 1023mb of ram is used for video and graphics(including your video card's).
 
Well I ended up getting the 2 sticks of 512. And everything is running great. Didnt have any problems with the ram at all, just plugged it in, and away it went. Thanks for the help guys.
 
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