Question : Problem: reviving an old (but still alive) PC...

Hi all,
I have a quite old PC, that I like to maintain alive upgrading it when a bargain on used hardware become affordable (it's primary for the hobby of doin' it), and it's only used for Internet browsing and multimedia playing.
A friend of mine is offering me for a very low price an ATI HD3650 card (512 DDR2 - AGP) that doesn't fit his PCI-Ex slot (he didn't read the fine prints).

Being tempted at reaching a full-HD capable hardware I'm thinking of adding 1 more Gb of RAM to my actual system (more is not needed 'cause the 3Gb of XP32 that I'm actually using).
Here's my actual configuration.

Processor: AMD Opteron 180
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (Nforce 3 Ultra Chipset)
RAM: OCZ Platinum EL - 2X1Gb Dual Channel
a couple of SATA 150 hard drives...

so, the question is, I can easily find the same RAM model, in 2x512, which configuation is better?

1.5 Gb per channel?

a 2x 1Gb channel and a 2x512 Gb channel?

a 2x1Gb Dual Channel and a Single 1 GB Channel B?

keep the money, filling 4 slots will add too much load, and you will need them for a bigger monitor or a newer PC?

Thanks for your time





Answer : Problem: reviving an old (but still alive) PC...

OCZ doesn't indicate on their site whether these are single or dual sided modules ... so you'll need to ask your vendor (who may/may not know without looking at the modules).   If you're buying locally, just look at the modules before you buy them.   You simply need to know if there are 8 memory chips or 16 memory chips on the module (i.e. are there memory chips on both sides?).

They'll still work if they're double-sided, but the BIOS will slow down the memory clock to help compensate for the degraded signal caused by the high bus loading.   I never install 4 double-sided modules on a system -- you'll have a far more reliable memory subsystem if you follow that advice :-)
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