Replacing RAM

[IMJ]

Hi,

I built my own machine a bit over a year ago with a lot of helpful advice from the fine people on this forum. My choice of RAM was 2GB of Corsair Dominator memory (Twin2X2048-6400C4D, 4-4-4-12 timings), to be plugged into an Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard.

Unfortunately this weekend one of the RAM modules died... I verified this with memtest and the first module seems to be fairly knackered, so I'm now stuck with 1GB whilst trying to run Windows Vista...

Anyway, it occurred to me that rather than go to the hassle of returning the dodgy stick to Corsair in California and waiting a month or more for a replacement, I could just buy another 2GB of memory of a similar spec seeing as it's now much cheaper. There's no point in throwing away the 1GB that does work, though, so I'd like to combine it with the new RAM. Which leads me to my question: can anyone recommend 2GB of comparatively cheap RAM that will be fully compatible with the old stick? I've tried looking for the same product number on a few websites but unsurprisingly I haven't found any exact matches.

Thanks,

Iain

[staffsMike]

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Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

both would be fine but i'm not sure how it will work dual channel wise with 3GB in there.

It might be worth just keep the 1GB stick as a spare and buying 2x2GB modules to make 4GB

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

[Lucio]

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

Not all that hard to find!

[FifthFreedom]

Try this Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

Should be what your looking for...

[staffsMike]

3 posts all saying the same thing

[IMJ]

Thanks for the speedy replies!

I'm only running the 32-bit version of Vista at the moment, which of course has the 3GB memory limit.

I had wondered if there would be any issues with having 3GB rather than 2 or 4, anyone else know if that would be a problem?

[staffsMike]

It's not a problem no, just the slight performance issue with dual channel but then I'm sure it won't be noticeable.

[IMJ]

If I were to install 4GB of memory, obviously Windows wouldn't recognise most of the 4th gigabyte, but would I still get the benefit of dual channel?

[staffsMike]

Yep you should do, and you will get about 3.2/3.3GB I would think.

The other thing is that RAM is starting to rise in price again. DDR3 is coming down slowly and DDR2 is heading back up so if you ever think you will want 4GB pull the trigger now.

Obviously you could do this by buying the 2GB kit and then RAMing your other one. Not sure what sort of price postage is to RMA to corsair so it may be more economical to get the 2x2GB kit now.

[IMJ]

RMAing the other stick was the plan I was considering - I don't think the postage charges are that bad, certainly cheaper than what it would cost to buy 4GB vs 2GB- plus, I won't be in a rush so I can go for cheaper postage.

Thanks for all the advice, I'd forgotten just how helpful everyone was on this forum