Q2: Much difference between 1gb and 1.5gb RAM?

GibsonSt19

And will I notice it?

I play some fairly new games, HL2, Doom 3, F.E.A.R. etc.

Cheers

Ditto

Does your pc run in dual channel mode?

GibsonSt19

I believe so. Is there a sure fire way of me confirming this?

Ditto

Do you know what the name of your motherboard is, have you got the manual?

If you do know the name but don't have the manual do a google search for info.

You could possibly find the name/brand etc from the bios or use some software dianogstic tool (do a google for freebie downloads) or take the lid off your pc and check the m/b out for yourself.

If your pc runs dual channel you will have to use matched pairs ie 2 x 512mb or 2 x 1gb etc also make sure they are the correct type of ddr ie 320 etc

Omertron

Open up the PC case, and have a look at the memory slots. If there are four slots in two different colours, e.g. Yellow, Blue, Yellow, Blue, then chances are you have a dual channel mother board. If you have less than four slots, then I would guess not.

As to the original question, probably not, but the more memory the better

GibsonSt19

Ah yes, I have a Gigabyte 7NNXP, double channel.

So I need pairs then do I? Nadgers

Ditto

Yes. Look at the memory you have now and see what type it is ddr 3200 etc as it has to be compatable.

GibsonSt19

It is 3200, and the spare stick of 512 is also 3200, but I don't have a pair for it.

Omertron

GibsonSt19 wrote:

Ah yes, I have a Gigabyte 7NNXP, double channel.

So I need pairs then do I? Nadgers

No, you don't NEED pairs, it would just work faster if you did (to some people that would be the same answer )

wolfman

For Half Life 2 it won't make a huge difference. For Doom 3, Quake 4, F.E.A.R you'll probably notice a bit of difference due to all the textures. Should give quicker loading times too.

I jumped up to 2gb (from 1gb). I've not noticed any different within Windows (apart from maybe Photoshop), but when playing Battlefield 2 it certainly loads the map much more quickly. I can also increase some of the texture detail.