Athlon 64's and Memory Req's

[TheBlueRaja]

Im thinking of buying a new memory module for my PC - i currently have 2 x 512meg sticks of Corsair Twin-X PC3200 DDR memeory in there and am looking to get myself another 1Gb stick of Corsair XMS3200 to stick in the spare bank i have.

My question though as i dont want to waste my money is that if i move at a later date to an Athlon 64 or X2 or whatever they are called now - could i still use this stick?

The reason i ask is that i seem to remember there is some funny stuff about Athlon 64 and memory.

[purenuman]

A common misconception is the more sticks installed, the better the performance due to an increase in memory. Since Dual Channel memory architectures its advised that memory is installed in pairs for optimal performance, though the system will still post with one or three sticks installed.

Uninformed users might install three sticks of memory in a dual channel motherboard thinking their system is running optimally. Since Dual Channel DDR systems still post with an odd number of memory sticks, though the system performs in single channel mode.

[Rob]

Chances are, by the time you decide you wanted to upgrade your processor, the memory standards, motherboard standards and the like that would go hand in hand with a processor upgrade would have moved on. In which case your memory might well not be that useful. Having said that you can often use lesser spec memory in a system, it's just that you won't get the most out of it, and any slower memory sticks, if used with faster ones, if they work at all would slow all memory to the lowest common setting.

Biggest thing at the moment is whether or not, as purenuman says, your motherboard has dual memory slots. If it does, to maintain performance you need a pair of 512MB RAM sticks rather than a single 1GB stick.

[Aragorn]

BR,

Athlon64's will use standard DDR memory (unless you get a DDR2 mobo) so the new stick would not be wasted but as purenuman says you would'nt be using the Dual Channel mde available on S939 Mobos.

If you are v. likely to get a 939 A64 soon, why not get another matched pair and leave one stick in the anti-stat bag until you're ready.

[TheBlueRaja]

Originally Posted by Aragorn

BR,

Athlon64's will use standard DDR memory (unless you get a DDR2 mobo) so the new stick would not be wasted but as purenuman says you would'nt be using the Dual Channel mde available on S939 Mobos.

If you are v. likely to get a 939 A64 soon, why not get another matched pair and leave one stick in the anti-stat bag until you're ready.

Cost

I already have 2 x 512mb - but I suppose i could flog that on and get 2 x 1GB chips instead.

Need to look into that.