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    Performance hit mismatchd 3gb Ram M1330

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by photognj, May 13, 2008.

  1. photognj

    photognj Notebook Geek

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    Hi,

    I have 2gb of DDR2 RAM(2x1GB, 667, 128X64, 8K, 200) on my Dell M1330. I want to boost it to 3gb by replacing one of the sticks with 2gb Corsair Valueram.
    (667 speed).

    What is the actual performance hit with mismatched RAM? I hear it's not a lot. What disadvantages will this entail? And will these disadvantages matter since my system is theoretically running faster with more ram?
    I am using Photoshop CS3 and 3gb would be the sweet spot for my files.

    Thanks.
     
    photognj, May 13, 2008
    #1
  2. maxpower47

    maxpower47 Notebook Guru

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    Do you mean mismatched brands, or mismatched sizes?
     
    maxpower47, May 13, 2008
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  3. sahaskatta

    sahaskatta Notebook Consultant

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    I recently had an experience with this.

    I have an XPS M1530 with 4GB of RAM (2x2GB) and the Vista Experience Index score for the RAM is 5.1. My friend also bought the same laptop but with 3GB of RAM and his Vista Experience Index for RAM is only 4.8.

    So the RAM can perform a bit faster if they are set up in a dual channel method, however different capacities together will work just fine since all the new chipsets support it.

    Unless you are doing a lot of hardcore photoshopping, you probably won't notice much difference in speed. Having that extra GB will be more useful to you than actually loosing that small amount speed.
     
    sahaskatta, May 13, 2008
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  4. KTGT

    KTGT Notebook Enthusiast

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    If you have a dedicated graphics card I have heard it isn't too much of a performance hit by mismatching the pairs and running single channel. Around 1-5% I have seen thrown around.

    Now if you have an integrated GPU, that is a whole different can 'o worms.
     
    KTGT, May 13, 2008
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  5. darthsat

    darthsat Notebook Deity

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    It will still run in dual-channel mode even with the different sizes, as long as the speeds of the RAM are equivalent.
     
    darthsat, May 13, 2008
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  6. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    Theres 2 types of Dual Channel

    Asymetrical DC - Aslong as theres 2 sticks in there it will run on this

    Symetrical (true) DC - You can only achieve this if you have the same size ram on both slots. This is the fastest setup you can get as the memory controller is given more bandwidth

    and running on 1 stick is just single channel
     
    flipfire, May 13, 2008
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  7. precise2282

    precise2282 Notebook Geek

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    Why not just buy 2x2gb sticks? You can get them for around $60 or cheaper.
     
    precise2282, May 14, 2008
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  8. Paul1987

    Paul1987 Notebook Enthusiast

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    i have an xpsm1530 with 3 gb of ram and it has a 5.1 in vista.

    asymetric dual channel uses the maximum amount of mempory available on both modules to create a dualchannel. this means

    when you have 1 stick of 2 gigs and 1 f 1 gigabyte your get 2 gigabytes of dualchannel space
     
    Paul1987, May 14, 2008
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