Ram matched vs unmatched?

[veemax]

Hello, I want to upgrade Ram on a 32 bit WinXP Dell Latitude 531. It currently has 1gb which is barely adequate.
One slot is in a bay on the bottom of the laptop; the other is under the key board. Each has 512 currently. Which would be faster: to put in a 2 gb stick in the easy to reach slot for a total of 2.5 gb unmatched or to install 2 sticks of matched 1 gb ram for a total of 2 gb?
More Ram unmatched vs less Ram matched? Thanks!
Blue

 

[akxpckwb]

It's better to have matched RAM. If speeds are different, let's say 1 stick of 800mhz and one of 667mhz, the faster one will be slowed down so that both have matching speeds.

 

[nikorr]

Hello, I want to upgrade Ram on a 32 bit WinXP Dell Latitude 531. It currently has 1gb which is barely adequate.
One slot is in a bay on the bottom of the laptop; the other is under the key board. Each has 512 currently. Which would be faster: to put in a 2 gb stick in the easy to reach slot for a total of 2.5 gb unmatched or to install 2 sticks of matched 1 gb ram for a total of 2 gb?
More Ram unmatched vs less Ram matched? Thanks!
Blue

Well, make sure it is the same voltage RAM stick.

Mostly it will work fine, but some mobos are very particular about the RAM.

Try unmatched and if it works, leave it. The speed difference would be next to nothing.

The benefit of more RAM is better than little speed gain on matched RAM sticks!