Ram config

[sonic]

I have to sticks of 512 in slot 1 and 3. I bought a 1 gig stick for a great price. My question is can I install it as is like put it in slot 1 and the 2 512 sticks in 3 and 4 to give 1 gig in each bank. Or should I wait and exchange the 2 512's for a single stick of 1 gig. and have it in slot 1 and 3

[sonic]

I forgot to mention its pc5300 dd2

[jimcooper1]

I have to sticks of 512 in slot 1 and 3. I bought a 1 gig stick for a great price. My question is can I install it as is like put it in slot 1 and the 2 512 sticks in 3 and 4 to give 1 gig in each bank. Or should I wait and exchange the 2 512's for a single stick of 1 gig. and have it in slot 1 and 3

If your Motherboard is dual channel then you will get faster RAM access by installing your RAM in pairs (1&3 and 2&4)  If you introduce a single stick your system will resort back to single channel operation.  It would be preferable to either swap your 2 sticks of 512 for another 1GB,  or alternatively get another 1GB and run 2x1GB  (slots1&3)  + 2x512MB (slots 2&4)

Regards

Jim

[MWISimmer]

Also worth mentioning is some (not all) motherboards slow the RAM speed when all 4 slots are in use, my friends Asus A8n does exactly that, dropping DDR speeds from 400 to 333 when all slots are used in dual channel mode.