Denithor
Diamond Member
- Apr 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: Lewis133
I am just about to purcahse a new ASUS P4P800/Deluxe board. I am just in the middle of trying to decide what is the best combo for memory. I was going to go with 512megs for now. Should I use 1 stick of 512 or two sticks of 256. Dual channel memory is new to me so I am open to any ideas.
Thank Lewis
There is really only one thing to consider here: do you plan to stick with 512MB of RAM long-term or do you plan to increase this amount later? If you won't increase, get 2x256MB as it will then be able to run in dual channel mode (much faster memory access than single-channel mode). If, however, you plan to increase to 1GB later, get the single 512MB chip now, run in single-channel mode for the moment, then add in the extra memory and run in dual channel later. There are a couple of advantages here: the larger chips tend to cost less /MB than the smaller capacity, so you will have initial cost savings. Also, when you upgrade later you will have two sticks of memory running instead of four (better for heat dissipation, I believe).
Just my $0.02, others may disagree.