Simple Ram Question - mixing sizes

[Nomadski]

Hey there, fairly noobish question here - i currently have 2 sticks of Corsair low latency 512MB PC3200 DDR400 Ram in my PC. Im looking at purchasing 2 sticks of Corsair 1GB PC3200 DDR400 Ram, making 3GB in total.

1) With the whole dual channel thing, will the 2x1GB sticks work in Dual channel?

2) With those added sticks being different size, will the original 512 sticks continue to run in dual channel?

3) Am i better taking out the 512 sticks and having 1GB less, but the same size sticks or does it not matter?

I know the PC3200 and DDR400 stats are the same, and both sets of sticks are Corsair, but is mixing 2x512 and 2x1GB on same MOBO ok?

Long winded but didnt know better way of putting it lol.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

That completely depends on your mobo, if it allows for single-sided and/or double-sided memory sticks. Populating all memory slots causes many mobos to revert from DDR400 to DDR333.
Read your mobo-manual or go to the mobo manufacturer's website.

 

[Nomadski]

That completely depends on your mobo, if it allows for single-sided and/or double-sided memory sticks. Populating all memory slots causes many mobos to revert from DDR400 to DDR333.
Read your mobo-manual or go to the mobo manufacturer's website.

Thanks for the reply, i wasnt aware of this potential problem. Im getting an Asus A8V Deluxe mobo for the Ram sticks to live in - what should i look for in the specs to see if this would have a problem?

 

[gary_hendricks]

Motherboard manuals usually have a section for RAM module compatibility. Check that section out.

 

[IronDuke]

Manual.
See pages 33 & 34.

 

[shipwatcher]

I just installed 1 x 500mb Kingston pc3200 400mhz Ram in my system. It worked fine when I had 2 X 256 Infineon sticks in.same specs. As soon as I added the 500 I had problem after problem. I removed the 2 X 250s and all is well again.
There must be some compatability issue.

 

[Tedster]

it's in the FAQS https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic47210.html