The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    dual slot ddr2 - simple question;)

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by michaeloo87, Dec 30, 2007.

  1. michaeloo87

    michaeloo87 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    hey please tell me if in dual slot I can have different ram - I mean for example in one 2gb and in the other 512mb...if it is better to have 1gb+1gb??? michael :)
     
    michaeloo87, Dec 30, 2007
    #1
  2. sly

    sly m1530 owner!!!

    Reputations:
    172
    Messages:
    1,403
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    if u have equal amounts in both channels the ram will run in dual channel but u can make any match u want.
     
    sly, Dec 30, 2007
    #2
  3. atlantan

    atlantan Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    From what I have read, having them match is better....1+1 or 512+512 etc. although i don't know the benefits of dual channel.
    crucial.com has some kits as does clubit.com
     
    atlantan, Dec 30, 2007
    #3
  4. goofball

    goofball Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    358
    Messages:
    1,710
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Yes, you can have different size ram installed.
    If it's a recent board, you should have dual channel in the first equivalent size for both. If you went 2GB + 512MB, the first GB of the 2.5 would be in dual channel.
    Given how cheap ram is, I would go with 2GB + 1GB if running 32bit or 2GB + 2GB if using 64bit (and you're not using a 945 chipset).
     
    goofball, Dec 30, 2007
    #4
  5. chinmonkie

    chinmonkie Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    17
    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    its funny how my laptop maxes out at 2 gigs =) so i am always running in sync xD
     
    chinmonkie, Dec 30, 2007
    #5
  6. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    7,101
    Messages:
    5,757
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    So just to hammer the point goofball is correct on. You would be better off with a 1GB +512MB vs 2X512MB (Intel) the reason is (as stated/goofball) they both will run 1GB in "true" dual channel but the larger one has 512MB extra b/4 it hits page file. Page file/HDD very slow, avoid whenever possible. That last 512MB even though single channel (64bit bus) has a bandwidth of maybe 3000+ MB/s vs HDD 40-60MB/s and RAM does not have the random access hit HDD does 10-20ms vs ns for RAM.
    At this point I have not found anything that confirms AMD works with in dual channel with different size sticks and have not tested on my own. I suspect it does work but do not know.
     
    powerpack, Dec 30, 2007
    #6