i've got three slots for ram expansion and currently have 256 sticks in 2 of them am i right in thinking i can only put another 256 in the third slot to keep them matched or can i whack a 512 in the third

512 mate, its sooooo cheap at the moment

IIRC you can put the 512MB in but i think the larger amount should go in the top slot, i could be talking arse though

Do you NEED that much memory ? What OS are you running ? Why not go buy a couple of 512's then you can put a third in if you need it (unlikley).

Don;t forget to check how much RAM the PC can take. Many are limited below 1GB (think this is caused by the motherboard but not sure).

 

 

Generally you can put any combination of memory into motherboards nowadays - so long as they have the same speed rating (or faster) as the other cards.

 

Check what your motorboard limit is: Some older machines have a 384MB limit, others have a 512MB. I think most new motherboards (single processor) can handle 1.5GB max.

 

Cheers

 

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Simon

You wont see much difference in speed with 512 RAM. If you are running XP you may, anything else i doubt you will.

You only need large amounts of memory for lots of multi tasking or if you are running a server.

A new if you dont have one get a ATA-100MB (UDMA 5) HDD. The transfer rate is nearly twice as fast as normal HDDs. I notice the differnce.

 

Stuart

im running xp and with 512 but another 512 cant hurt as i'm waiting on my new geforce 4 mx card and then i swear no more money on my pc i'll start spending on my z again

XP LOVES memory, I run XP Pro on 1 Gig of RAM with IBM Deskstar GXP 7200 Spin hard disks - go for it!

 

XP is kinda like W2K, it will use all the memory you have, it doesn't necessarily need it, it just caches more and more stuff.

Admittedly servers need lots, but 256Mb is pretty fair for work stations. My laptop uses about 256Mb although my XP twin processor machine is currently using only 139Mb out of 256.