Enabling Dual Channel with 2x512 and 2x1GB

[muharizj]

Hi, I have been running 2x512MB and 1x1GB on my MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum board for the past few months. Since i noticed that its running on single channel mode, I really want to make it working on dual channel mode.

my 2x512MB's are: Corsair VS1GBKIT400 1GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 CAS2.5 Value Select

and the 1x1GB is Corsair VS1GB400C3 1GB DDR400 PC3200 CAS3 Value Select

When I bought the last 1GB stick, i thought it was better to leave 1 slot empty, i was unaware of dual channel back then as it was my first build.

My Question is, if i bought the same type of 1GB module and plug it in, will my system run in Dual Channel? Furthermore, do you suppose i'll see a lot of difference going from 2GB single channel to 3GB Dual Channel? I'm running an AMD 64 3500 venice and usually use the system for games and the occasional video edit.

Also, i can figure out from the specs that my two 512's are faster as they are cas 2.5. How much does CAS affect as in 2.5 vs 3?

Any help would be much appreciated thank you.

 

[The_Prophecy]

In theory what you're suggesting should work. Dual channel works best with matched pairs of ram though (for stability reasons). Given that you would have 3 GB of ram, the performance hit going from CAS 2.5 to 3 would be so minute, that it's not even worth mentioning.