ram question.

  • Thread starter Thread starter wakka
  • Start date Start date
i am buying another stick of ram i was wondering if it would be
compatible with the ram i currently have. this is the ram i
currently have http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/5876/5876sp3.shtml
and i am wanting to get another one from this list but i cant choose
one cause i have no clue what i need exactly
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...58+1052407862+4017&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=147.
Click to expand...

Any that say DDR400 PC3200 is compatible but your motherboard is probably
dual channel and to maintain dual channel you need to install two more
sticks of matching ram (dual chanel uses matching pairs). Some say all four
sticks should be from the same manufacturer (I use four matching) and have
the same timings for dual channel mode but if you buy two more sticks of
512mb from a different manufacturer and with different timings you should
still maintain dual channel mode but it's not guaranteed as some mb's are
more picky about ram than others. If you just stick in another 1gb stick
you will lose dual channel mode. Dual channel gives better performance but
not by much, maybe 2-5% or so. If that is no big deal to you then just get
a 1gb stick of Corsair ValueSelect PC3200 ram. Open your case and make sure
it has four ram slots and not just two. By expanable to 4gb they ma mean
you have to take the two existing sticks and put in two 2gb sticks. Most
mb's have four slots but there are some that only have two.
 
i am buying another stick of ram i was wondering if it would be
compatible with the ram i currently have. this is the ram i
currently have http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/5876/5876sp3.shtml
and i am wanting to get another one from this list but i cant choose
one cause i have no clue what i need exactly
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...58+1052407862+4017&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=147.
Click to expand...

How much do you want to add and are your current 2x512MB DIMMs double sided
(dual rank)? You say "another stick" but to maintain dual channel memory
performance, you really want to buy two DIMMs... one for each channel. If
you add two more, chances are you're going to lose some memory performance:
if you are currently running at 1T command rate that'll drop to 2T and
unless you have an unusually good match of mbrd, CPU and DIMMs your max
speed will drop from DDR400 to DDR333. You can check out the "rules" on
page 181 of this doc:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26094.PDF.

Best performance from adding DIMMs would be if your current DIMMs are
single rank and the two you add are also single rank but I've no idea what
Gateway delivers in that respect; OTOH if you're looking at adding 2x1GB
DIMMs, that is obviously not a consideration since each 1GB DIMM will be
dual rank. While mixing brands may work out OK, there's always the chance
that you'll get worse performance than AMD's specs indicate... in the worst
case, malfunction. Absolute best performance would be if you replace your
current pair of DIMMs with a new pair, maintaining only 2 ranks of memory
per channel in two slots.

Even if you buy from NewEgg, take a look at www.crucial.com to see what
they recommend.
 
i am buying another stick of ram i was wondering if it would be
compatible with the ram i currently have. this is the ram i
currently have http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/5876/5876sp3.shtml
and i am wanting to get another one from this list but i cant choose
one cause i have no clue what i need exactly
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...58+1052407862+4017&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=147.
Click to expand...

How much do you want to add and are your current 2x512MB DIMMs double sided
(dual rank)? You say "another stick" but to maintain dual channel memory
performance, you really want to buy two DIMMs... one for each channel. If
you add two more, chances are you're going to lose some memory performance:
if you are currently running at 1T command rate that'll drop to 2T and
unless you have an unusually good match of mbrd, CPU and DIMMs your max
speed will drop from DDR400 to DDR333. You can check out the "rules" on
page 182 of this doc:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26094.PDF.

Best performance from adding DIMMs would be if your current DIMMs are
single rank and the two you add are also single rank but I've no idea what
Gateway delivers in that respect; OTOH if you're looking at adding 2x1GB
DIMMs, that is obviously not a consideration since each 1GB DIMM will be
dual rank. While mixing brands may work out OK, there's always the chance
that you'll get worse performance than AMD's specs indicate... in the worst
case, malfunction. Absolute best performance would be if you replace your
current pair of DIMMs with a new pair, maintaining only 2 ranks of memory
per channel in two slots.

Even if you buy from NewEgg, take a look at www.crucial.com to see what
they recommend.
 
wakka said:
i am buying another stick of ram i was wondering if it would be
compatible with the ram i currently have. this is the ram i
currently have http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/5876/5876sp3.shtml
and i am wanting to get another one from this list but i cant choose
one cause i have no clue what i need exactly
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...58+1052407862+4017&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=147.
Click to expand...

You should go to www.crucial.com or www.kingston.com and input your
manufacturer and model number into their input form. They will tell you
how much maximum memory you can put on that thing, and how many memory
slots that you have. You don't have to buy the ram from either Kingston
or Crucial, just use it as a reference for wherever you want to buy from.

Here's an example of what is listed for your computer at Crucial:

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=GT5028+Media+Center

And here's the output from Kingston (they have a typo and call your
computer a GT5082 rather than GT5028):

http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/con...a+Center+Desktop&distributor=0&submit1=Search

Yousuf Khan
 
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