XPS 410 2gb ram upgrade

[oogystick]

Okay, so I'm trying to make this difficult for myself and need some explanation. I've got a dell xps 410 with 4 ram slots. I currently have 2 512mb totaling 1gb. My goal is to get 2gb efficiently. I was wondering what my best bang for the buck option is. I've found a good 2gb (2x1gb) package on new egg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145015

Should I go with that and disregard my old ram? or keep my old ram as well? I know there are issues with bottle necking and finding good matches with the mhz and such but i all doesn't make much sense to me. I don't need overclocking ram, so this should do me fine I think. Thanks. Any other suggestions are welcome.

 

[oogystick]

Edit: I found this after some searching on newegg and it has much better ratings and is a similar price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146569

 

[sailer]

The Corsair ram is faster (DDR2 675 vs DDR2 533) and holds the same timings of 4-4-4-12, so for the extra $2, I'd get the Corsair. Just my opinion.

Oh yeah, I'd sell the old ram or give it to someone that has a need for it. But as cheap as ram is these days, there's not a great resale market for it.

 

[oogystick]

okay, so i got my ram in and it works great.

My only question now is that my 800mhz ram is running at 667 probably because i retained my original ram. (2x512)

So all 4 slots are being used, i have 3gbram total @ 667mhz.

would 2gb @ 800mhz be faster? or should I keep it the same??

 

[sailer]

Take out the 2x512 667 ram. When you mix ram of different speeds or timings, it runs at the speed of the slowest stick. The 2 gig @ 800mhz should be faster running by itself. If it still wants to run at 667, you may have to go into the BIOS and manually change the settings.