Memory Issue (PC3200 or PC2700)

[tential]

My PC specs are an AMD 3200 64 running on a 939 mobo and I have a 6600GT for the graphics card.

For my ram however I have been running 1 Gig of PC3200 in Dual channel. However I have 3 other sticks at my disposal which are PC2700. 2 are 256 sticks that run together in dualchannel and the third is a 512 stick.

What would be the best possible combination of sticks?

I know that I could bench them all but that takes awhile and I dont like to go inside my computer to flip the sticks around that much. I'm not that good with the insides I admit so I don't want to do something stupid.

If anyone has a suggestion to get the most use out of these sticks please help me.

[machinist]

Don't do it, else your system will drop down to 166Mhz FSB as the PC2700 RAM cannot do PC3200 speeds, plus mixing RAM brands and sizes is inadvisable/will not work.

[-ChEM-]

if your mobo can take it you could try the 2x256mb sticks in the slots that youre not using now, then force it up to DDR400 by loosening the timings

a lot of motherboards wont do that at all well though, all early 939 boards (up to quite recently) would only do DDR333 with 4 dimms and youd be at 2T and probably slower all round timings due to mixing ram

if you want to have a go, bench before and after then youll have a reasonable idea, but i wouldnt bother without reading up on timings etc so you know what youll be gaining/losing

[tential]

Wouldn't running PC2700 though with 1756 ram be much faster than 1 Gig of PC3200. Thats what I was hoping. the timings on the other ram sticks are all 2.5 cas latency but I guess i'll have to take some time to bench them.

[mike306dt]

So you currently have 1gb being 2x512mb sticks for dual channel. How do you intend to run 17xx when you already have two of your 4 slots populated to make the 1gb?

Even with 1.5gb+ I'm not sure its worth the speed drop - depending on what you use your computer for.

edit : Also with the 1gb plus (i'm assuming here) a 512mb strip and a 256 strip you are going to be losing your dual channel memory surely?

[tential]

Ya thats what I was thinking at. I'm nto sure I'm going to perform the benches tonight and see what happens.

[teachmech]

Best bet would be to buy 2x1GB and sell all your current memory. That way you get 2Gb in dual channel and get rid of old bits.

[-ChEM-]

channel 1: 1x512, 1x256
channel 2: 1x512, 1x256
= 1.5gb dual channel no extra cost

if i was you id make a note of your timings now, then put them up to max and put the new ram in then lower them until you get them right

you should have a good idea of whether its going to affect your system from the numbers, if it looks likely then do a bench at both but for now just find the limits

btw lower it one at a time and run memtest, if you do it in big jumps you can potentially damage stuff afaik

[mike306dt]

The same size and type have to be in each pair of slots. EG slot 1 and 2 must have 2x512. Slot 3 and 4 must have the 2x256 if thats what you want to do which is what was mentioned above. I can't make out whether he's ordered the memory right.

You've got to use matching module size and types in each bank or it won't work.