Just wondering, will it make a massive difference if I have two sticks of DDR RAM, with one being different to the other in, say clock speeds?

If so, how do I find out what RAM I currently have, short of opening her up :P

think it should tell you on your bios when you 1st turn your pc on

go on start-my computer-view systhem infomation. and it shud tell you on ther if you click GENERAL

go on start-my computer-view systhem infomation. and it shud tell you on ther if you click GENERAL
that only tells how much ram there is not the speed

Search for and download a program called cpu-z it'll tell you everything about your system :)

Just wondering, will it make a massive difference if I have two sticks of DDR RAM, with one being different to the other in, say clock speeds?

If so, how do I find out what RAM I currently have, short of opening her up :P

General rule if the sticks are rated the same IE PC3200 then No
Check on the manufactrers website/motherboard then post back.

I have no idea if you have a Dual channel board ... get some information.

Using XP? Standard start menu setup do this

START > then <right> mouse click on My Computer > Properties
It should default to the general tab bottom right system information (depending on machine speed it may take a few seconds)

:thumbsup:

If you have a dual channel MB, which most are now, the board will default to the lower speed of the two sticks. So if you add a faster stick, it won't run the system bus any faster, but you will get an increase in performance just by having extra memory.

Also, it's debatable how much extra performance is gained from dual channel mode, but there is some.

This is the information I get for my memory in cpu-z

Type: DDR
Size: 512Mbyts
Channels #: Single
Performance mode:Disabled
Frequency:200Mhz

The rest is all clock info. So I want to upgrade. Now I know I should get atleast 1Gb, but if I buy another 512Mb stick will it run at 200Mhz? That is pretty slow for memory as far as I am aware... Would it be best then to buy a 1Gb stick that is faster?

its double data rate man, so its actually running at 400mhz, you need to make sure of a few things, you want to go on ebay and buy another 512mb ddr stick pc3200, make sure that your motherboard can support ECC otherwise your going to have to get a non-ECC stick which is more common, if you still have problems ring me on 07863156357 and ill help you out.

One thing that it doesn't appear that anyone has pointed out is that, in response to your original question, if you have two sticks of RAM on different frequencies.. assuming they are the same techn ology, they will work but they will be restricted to the speed of the slowest stick.

If you have a dual channel MB, which most are now, the board will default to the lower speed of the two sticks. So if you add a faster stick, it won't run the system bus any faster, but you will get an increase in performance just by having extra memory.

Also, it's debatable how much extra performance is gained from dual channel mode, but there is some.

I did! :thumbsup: