Available Memory Slots...

[PLAT1NUM]

Quick question... My Mom has a five year old Dell that desperately needs more RAM. It takes up to 4 sticks of DDR PC3200 but currently only has 2 sticks of 256MB with CL 3. If I want to get her more RAM, should the new sticks have the same cas latency as the old ones and be of the same size?

If all that doesn't matter, and I choose to get 2 x 512MB to supplement what she already has, do I have to even out the amount of RAM across the channels? Ex. Channel A - 1 256MB CL3, 1 512MB CL4, Channel B - 1 256MB CL3, 1 512 MB CL4? Or can I put any stick of RAM into any slot I want regardless of size and cas latency?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[PLAT1NUM]

Is it recommended that the new memory should match the size and the CAS latency of the old memory? Or is that not necessary?

 

[dengamle]

It might be worth checking out what the mauals says about possible memory configurations. Some boards have 4 slots, but only accepts 4 ranks total

 

[Mondoman]

A related issue is that MBs (especially lower-end ones such as the OP's) often have trouble with 4 DIMMs installed, since the signals are now split between 4 DIMMs instead of 2 and thus are not as strong.
I would just buy 2x1GB DIMMs and install them in the system. If the original 2x256MB DIMMs also work when all 4 are installed, great; if not, just install the 2x1GB and give/throw away the 256MB DIMMs.

 

[jackluo923]

I would buy 1 x 512 pc133 or ddr depending on what you use. Don't worry about dual channel since a 5 year old computer is not likely to have dual channel anyways.


edit: had a bad day yesterday

 

[Mondoman]

Your answers will be more likely to be helpful if you first read the previous posts in the thread...