RAM upgrade. Buying today please look

Ok I've got a vostro 1500, c2d 5470 running vista on 1 gig currently. I use my laptop for everything as it is my only computer but my main reason to upgrade the ram is for my audio use. I Dj and I use serato to mix and audacity to record my mixing and winamp to broadcast my audio for live internet radio. Sometimes I may want to do all of this at once. Currently If I am using serato and doing internet radio sometimes my listeners tell me that my audio cuts out for a split second every once in a while. Sometimes it may be the usb buffer in serato but if I open a chat in stickam or a instant messenger etc while all this is going on it just makes things even worse.

Which option will give me the best performance gain? the current config is 512x2 sticks.

upgrading to 1gigx2 to make 2 gigs running dual channel mode.

upgrading to 2gig-512 to make 2.5 gigs running non dual channel.

upgrading to 2gigsx2 to make 4 gigs running in non dual channel? This is where I am confused. I have read that using 4 gigs of ram in vista 32 bit (vista basic I have) will only end up with 3 gigs being used of the memory. But will it be dual channel mode?

Which option will be the best performance increase for me? I am planning to go purchase later today from a store so let me know.

 

Right. Don't do the middle option. That was easy.

2GB is a perfectly large enough amount of memory for everyone, and will work, as you say, in dual channel mode. With a 5470 processor, it probably isn't worth putting 4GB of RAM in because I guess it will make little difference to performance over 2GB because it will be held back by other components.

However, were you to put 4GB in it would run in dual channel mode. The motherboard in your laptop supports up to 4GB of RAM, and were you to install it the full 4096MB would be visible in the BIOS, and you would have to dual channel performance advantage. It is a limitation in Vista, assuming you use the 32-bit version like the majority of people currently, that the full 4GB cannot be addressed as about 1GB worth of the addresses are used for other things, so depending on many factors to do with your computer itself, you may 'see' in Windows anywhere between about 3 and 3.5GB, but that would be dual channel.

Hope this clears up any confusion, but unless you really feel you need 4GB I'd save your money and go for the 2x1GB for now. You can always upgrade again later when prices come down.

 

Please read the dual channel thread for some benchmark test results when running asymmetric dual channel. 2GB + 512MB is a viable and cost-effective option and I've been there although I'm now running 2GB + 1GB. I did try 2 x 2GB but saw no performance benefit so I put one 2GB module in another notebook.

Look in the RAM deals thread for current pricing. If you are in Europe then this is one of the best deals for 2GB.

John