Using different sticks of ram

[JadeDingo]

Okay heres the dealio, i have 2 sticks of 128mbSDRam in my pc, one is pc133 other might be pc100 i think its pc133 though.

Anywho, the question i would like to ask is, would there be a foreseeable problem with buying 2 sticks of 256mbSDram either pc 100 or 133?

PC specs:
Processor - 900 megahertz AMD Athlon
Main Circuit Board - Asus K7M 1.04
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies LTD 2.00 07/25/00
Drives - 60gb hd
WIN XP PRO

anyhelp would be appreciated, thanks in advanced

 

[t'kron]

That board only supports PC100 SDRam. so even if you put in all PC133 ram the board would run at PC100 speed.

If you mix PC100 with PC133 SDRams all of them would run at the slower PC100 speed.

 

[JadeDingo]

so i guess buying the two sticks of 256 would be waist wouldnt it?

 

[t'kron]

To get the best performance that you can out of an existing computer you should increase the ram up the the maximum that the motherboard will recognize and supports. That motherboard will recognize and support a maximum of 768 SDRam max. make sure you put the smallest of the rams in the third ram slot/bank the maximum memory any single slot can support is 256meg

 

[Rapmaster]

RAM is really cheap now... especially PC100/133

No excuse to not have as much as you can: anyone playing games should have at least 512MB.

To minimize problems, its best to use modules from the same manufacturer. So I'd put two (or three) new 256 meg sticks in, and give the existing 128 meg sticks to someone else.

 

[JadeDingo]

well theres a problem, well not really a problem. anywho, when you say 3 slots for ram theres only 2 ram slots but when you go into bios it says theres 3 slots. I have searched that motherboard to an extent... theres only 2 slots

 

[Idiot's_Revenge]

I would worry more about the type of ram sticks you use than anything personally, i would make sure how ever many sticks you use or however many slots you have that the ram sticks match, not just speed wise , brand and type and if possible buy them at the same time as not all batches of chips are made exactly same , IE : the dies they use wear after a while and there can be difference in the micron size inside the chip itself , i could go in to detail about the gate width size length etc.. but i think that would be overkill. I do howerver aggree that you should use the maximum amount of ram that you system can use as a general rule of thumb i always double the amount they use for minimum spec IE: if they ask for 128 ram i'd use 256. As far as speed goes PC 133 will most times default to run at 100 mhz but not always again it depends on they type of ram and who made it. Before you install any ram though you should first read the MB manual as not all MB's are made the same, so for the best performance and stablity use two sticks the same size speed and from the same batch, manufacturer.

 

[Idiot's_Revenge]

I would worry more about the type of ram sticks you use than anything personally, i would make sure how ever many sticks you use or however many slots you have that the ram sticks match, not just speed wise , brand and type and if possible buy them at the same time as not all batches of chips are made exactly same , IE : the dies they use wear after a while and there can be difference in the micron size inside the chip itself , i could go in to detail about the gate width size length etc.. but i think that would be overkill. I do howerver aggree that you should use the maximum amount of ram that you system can use as a general rule of thumb i always double the amount they use for minimum spec IE: if they ask for 128 ram i'd use 256. As far as speed goes PC 133 will most times default to run at 100 mhz but not always again it depends on they type of ram and who made it. Before you install any ram though you should first read the MB manual as not all MB's are made the same, so for the best performance and stablity use two sticks the same size speed and from the same batch, manufacturer.

 

[Idiot's_Revenge]

One thing i did forget to mention is that your system will work better if you use two sticks of ram IE : you want a total of 512 MB ram , use 2 sticks of 256 ram not just one of 512 MB , if you have 3 slots use 3 of 128 MB or 3 of 256 MB overall your system will run faster in this config. This is not MB specific, any MB will work faster this way unless you have one of the new board's that have Dual Channel's for ram, the newer MB's with Dual Channels for ram need to be configured a little different, I have the Asus A7N8X - DX MB and i have 2 sticks of 512 PC 2700 ram in slot 1 and 3. You should also becareful to note the DIMM or SIMM slots are marked on the MB ususally and to make sure you start your ram in memory slot one and work your way up. Some MB's start ram slots at 0 and some start them at 1 depends on manufacturer and PCB layout.
I have also found in my experience that even if the manual tells you it can run with the ram in one type of config that it cant, dunno why but that is what i have found on several diff types of MB's and socket styles IE: from socket 3 to socket A etc..