Ram 512mb to1.5gig?

Question

i have 2 RAM slots.
ok i have a celeon running at 3.3 ghz with 512 of RAM. The question is should i get  512mb or get a stick of 1gb of RAM for the extra slot. I heard your comp will run well if you have 256, 512, 1gig, 2gig. but is having 1.5gig making your comp run fine? 

i play games like doom 3, call of duty 2

Bill C · Accepted Answer

If you have a single 512MB stick of RAM its not running in dual-channel mode anyway (it requires two sticks of the same size), so I'd say stick your 1GB stick along side of it.

If you havnt taken a look inside your PC and you've actually got two 256MB sticks, then I'd say jump up to two 1GB sticks.

Having a non-power-of-2 RAM size does not affect performance in any way.

For you, I would actually recomend upgrading your video card first.  I think that'll make a much bigger difference for the money on 3d games.  Grab a GeForce 7900GS for $150 if you've got a PCIe 16x slot, and that'll probably make a big difference in your gaming experience, depending what you've got in there now.  (If its onboard video... holy crap, dont even worry about your RAM, upgrade your video card ASAP!)

john_aka_bean · Answer

flatline is right. It does depend on your motherboard. MOST computers that are capable of DDR ram can take a variety of combinations (i have a computer that runs 512 dual channel and a 1 GB chip REALLY good) Put your dual channel memory in dimms 1 and 2 for best speed. DO NOT mix DDR and DDR2 ram and MAKE SURE the speed of the ram is the same. I mix DDR 400 with DDR 400.

yasiru89 · Answer

I would recommend against having a 512MB stick with a 1GB one. Instead for maximum performance consider adding another 512MB stick to the vacant slot or starting over and having two 1GB sticks in both slots ending up with 2GB RAM.
Preferably both RAM sticks should be of the same brand and DDR spec. Best if in dual channel mode.

Anonymous · Answer

ok, go ahead and buy the 1 gb of ram but there could be problems. It depends on your motherboard. I'll asume it is rated to 2 gb of RAM, try to match the maker of the RAM sticks. Ya know, go to Newegg.com and read up.

blood_drop2003 · Answer

Having different sized RAM can cause conflicts internally. Its best to just go with another 512 however certain computer manufactures have made it possible to go with 1.5 but check with them first because other don't let you do that. Its a system to system thing.

Mr. Nice Guy · Answer

get as much memory as you can afford.  1 gig is better than 512.

baby taz · Answer

yea i tink tat wadeva you use, your comp will still run fine..but the more gigs the better i tink .. not very sure..sorry..

Ram 512mb to1.5gig?

7 Answers