DDR ram for an old ASUS A7N8X - 1 1g or 2 512mb?

[bigsur]

Hello, got a question about ddr ram for my old asus a7n8xe board.

ram is dying bad so need to get some more - only to find out ddr is more $$ than ddr2 haha! (stupid s/d)

well, ? is should i run 2 512mb sticks pc3200 or 1 1gig pc3200??

ddr works better in pairs right?,so i would just get 2 1 gigs, BUT im trying to build a new e8400 system soon so dont want to spend that much on this old rig - therefore the 2 512's

thanks!!

 

[g-paw]

Your better off with 2 x 512MB.

 

[Shadow703793]

^Agreed. DDR ram is expensive compared to DDR2.

 

[bigsur]

gpaw - itll go faster with 2 b/c running in dual chan mode right?

shadow - yea and ive gotten rid of lots of ddr in the past, didnt think id need it again....

 

[g-paw]

Yes

 

[I]

What does "ram is dying bad" mean? If the memory is failing you may have a motherboard problem not memory module failure, in which case it would make more sense today to replace CPU, board, and DDR2 memory at it's crazy low prices currently.

If nForce2 was the IGP version, using dual channel mode adds significantly to 3D performance. When not using integrated video (which that board doesn't even have) the benefit of 2 channel mode is very small, typically about 4% depending on the application.

So is your memory really failing? The importance here is also that unlike more modern chipsets, nForce2 does not need equal capacity matched modules to do dual channel. In other words, suppose you had 1 x 512MB already. If you added 1 x 1024MB to that, your system would run in dual channel mode for that slight performance benefit while accessing the first GB of memory, and the slower rate for the remaining 512MB - which is not just as good as having 2 x 512MB modules but better since you have 512MB more.

1GB DDR modules used to cost more than 2 x 512MB, I haven't priced them recently but they also used to be CAS3 in the cheaper tiered products so cost is another factor - I would not want to spend a lot on this system at this point, especially considering how cheap DDR2 is now and that unless you plan on dying soon (not seriously, I write this just to make a point), it is inevitable that you upgrade it sooner or later.

 

[bigsur]

thanks for the input I and others

i managed to score some kingston ddr pc3200 for this system.

was priced 75 at bb, got em to match cc's 25 so only about $55 out the door for 2 sticks.

system does what it needs to again, got em en dual chan.