Memory question

[Rondar]

The computer I have on order will come with 3 gig 667 memory.  Should I upgrade to the 4 gig on 2 sticks with dual channel memory even though I realize only 3gig or so will be actually used?  Any performance boost at all or not?  The computer will support dual channel mem and would cost 55 dollars to upgrade from 2 +1 reg mem to 2 sticks of 2gig dual channel memory.

[alskahawk]

   You will see 3 gig in Windows, the other gig will be used as virtual memory. But I doubt you'll see much performance boost. This applies to 32 bit OS's. However, you may see small boost by going to dual channel memory over regular memory. Probably not $55 worth though. Save the 55 bucks.

 Note; you can buy 4 gig dual channel memory for less than $100 retail. So $55 not much of a deal.

 

 

[BaldEagl]

Is the 3 gigs coming in 3 sticks?  If so you will see a perfomance increase and you may even see one going from 3 gigs on 3 sticks to 2 gigs on 2 sticks.  You have to have identical sticks in matched pairs to run in dual channel mode.

In another thread in this forum, Kilz has been having issues with his new system.  He was running 2x1G and 2x512 sticks.  He actually saw a small improvement pulling the 2x512's out.

[Rondar]

This is what the computer description says about the ram installed on what I have ordered.

Main Memory  3GB DDR2 667Mhz (1GB+2GB) up to 4GB
For computers configured with 4 GB of system memory, the full system memory space for computing activities could be less and will vary by model and system configuration




This below are my two options that I have from them. 

 
 
  - 3,072MB (2 SODIMMS) DDR2 667MHz Memory - Asus Default Memory 
 
  - 4,096MB (2 SODIMMS) DDR2 667MHz Dual Channel Memory (Requires Vista 64-Bit to recognize Full 4GB) ( + 53 ) 
 

[BaldEagl]

You are best off to go with the 2 Dimm offering.  With 4Gb the system will only recognize 3-3.5Gb of it but it will still remain in dual channel mode.

[BaldEagl]

Oops... quoted myself... SKUZZY!... Where's the delete post option!