Dual DDR and adding RAM

[Questor]

I have an EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra motherboard with 1 GB (2 X 512 MB Corsair XMS) but want 2 GB. I would like to add another 1 GB of ram but do not want to have to buy a 2 GB matched set and toss the current gig out the window.

I have done some comparison shopping and found if I just buy a 1 GB stick and put it in a single DDR channel the timings will be different from the sticks in dual DDR.

So, I suppose I am wondering: To make things work correctly do I indeed have to add all new matched RAM or can I add another stick of RAM to get to 2 GB and be legit.

As always advice is appreciated,

Questor

 

[Tu13erhead]

I'm guessing your motherboard only has three DIMMs?

If you have three sticks of RAM, dual channel will not work. You cannot have two sticks in dual channel and a third in single channel. So, to answer your question, you can add a third stick, but your timings may change and you will not run in dual channel mode.

Why not buy 2x1gb and sell/trade your 2x512?

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: Tu13erhead
I'm guessing your motherboard only has three DIMMs?

If you have three sticks of RAM, dual channel will not work. You cannot have two sticks in dual channel and a third in single channel. So, to answer your question, you can add a third stick, but your timings may change and you will not run in dual channel mode.

Why not buy 2x1gb and sell/trade your 2x512?

Agreed, I'd sell the old ram and just apply the money to new. Your idea may work, albeit in single channel mode, but it may not. Many modern mobos are very sensitive to the RAM modules and you can have issues ranging from no POST to random BSOD's. The safest thing to do is sell the current RAM and buy new.

 

[Questor]

That is what I had figured. Thanks a ton for the input.

Questor

 

[pkypkypky]

your mobo should have 4 dimms and support dual channel for 4 sticks. Some nforce2 boards had 3 dimms and "supported" dual channel with 3 sticks. But I wonder if anyone ever got that to work right. (shrug)

Back to the topic...the safer route is to go with two sticks. Like someone stated, you can sell your current sticks and buy a new 2GB kit. IMO, it's a worthy investment because your 2GB kit will keep its value better than 4x512mb.