Extra RAM??

[LWA]

Hey guys,
I have an Abit NF7 v2 motherboard with 2 x 256Mb Winbond 3200 memory modules in it. However I want to increase the amount of ram I have.

I don't want to sell the current RAM I have as it is good stuff and will run easily at 210 (dual channel using 2-5-3-3 timings).

I know if I buy another 256Mb of Ram I could still run it in dual channel, however would the RAM have to be purely winbond or could it be the twinmos stuff with windbond chips?

What would happen if I put another 512 in there would it affect performance much?

Does anyone else have any other options on what to do?

Thanks in advance.

[steve threlfall]

The only way it would run dual channel is if you had the 512 in the slot on its own and the rest in the two slots together. The gig of ram you would then have would give you minimal performance gains if your only playing games etc so theres not much poin imo

[SilentDeath]

dual chan is mroe marketing hype than acctual performance, stick a 512 stick in and u should nitice differnce when doing mem intensive stuff, but u wont notice the lack of dual chan when playing games (as u shouldnt have dual chan, it only works on slots 1 and 3 or 1 and 2 iirc...)

[Austin]

Dual Channel in SktA yields a very respectable 5% perf gain, very good considering ALL other components are the same, that's a very good perf boost considering it's down to the mobo alone.

Problem with nF2 is that filling all 3 slots creates problems. Firstly you may find you lose some of the Dual Channel perf gain. Ideally you want the same amount of RAM on each channel, so putting your existing 2x256MB on one channel and 1x512MB on the other SHOULD give you the best chance. However it seems nF2 don't do 400FSB with 3 slots filled, you may have to drop to 333FSB (or at least closer to it), not as huge a perf drop as it sounds but enough for you to consider selling your existing 2x256MB and buying 2x512MB which you KNOW will be the same and work well together. If you want to avoid headaches either put up with your existing 512MB (which shouldn't be limiting) or sell your existing stuff to buy 2x512MB.

[LWA]

Thanks for all the info guys, I think I will buy a stick of 512Mb 3200 and try it in the spare slot and see what happens!!

Is the Twinmos with winbond chips the best value for money at the moment?

[Austin]

Pretty much, it is top notch stuff and for a very decent price. Std TwinMOS is proably best bang though, still great stuff. Adata are very close behind ... or even in front for P4 owners. If Crucial knocked 10% (at least) fromt heir prices they'd be in line too.

Perhaps buying a 512MB PC3200 TwinMOS (Winbond?) is best, see if it can work in your mobo (400FSB?) and let us know if it does but needs a FSB reduction. If it doesn't work (or not as well as you want) then you can still sell the 2x256MB and get another stick to macth your 512MB stick.

[Mallus]

Just see how it goes and if the board doesn't like having 3 slots filled sell the 2x256mb for a 512mb module. If you can, try to stick with all winbond chips as I have only ever had good experiences with them (275fsb on IC7!).