Question about buying new ram

0ubliette

Hello,
im giving my machine a bit of an overhaul. I cant be arsed going downt he dual core, sli route as its too expensive, so until i can afford that, im just upgrading my machine to the higest spec possible.
Ive done the cpu and the graphics, now i want to get more ram. At the moment i have 1gb of corsair ram, which im fairly positive is PC3200 (judging by the '3200' sticker on the side of each module) no idea about what speed it is or its timings however. Ive got 3 dimm slots on my mobo, 2 of which are taken up by my exsisting ram. Im fairly sure pc3200 is the fastest speed my mobo can take, so i want to get a single 1gb dimm to take up the last available slot. i saw this on komplett:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=311352
Its 1gb of pc3200, im wondering can i just pop this in my mobo? There shouldnt be any conflicts with the older ram if theyre both pc3200, right? Or am i wrong?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
EDIT:
just looked on komplett some more, and im fairly sure this is the ram ive currently got installed
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=302393

8T8

Only 3 DIMM slots that is a not too common config these days.

FYI CPU-Z will tell you the timings of your current RAM.

PC3200 = DDR400 you should be okay with the extra 1GB of Corsair DDR400 however if your memory controller is dual channel then you will end up hampering performance as dual channel operation requires pairs of DIMM's to work.

Use CPU-Z to tell you the make of your motherboard from that we can tell if the CPU & motherboard work in dual channel mode.

0ubliette

thanks alot for that 8T8, i ran cpu-z, and it tells me my ram is:
DDR PC3200, Single channel, 200Mhz. im dismayed that its only 200Mhz, the stick i wanted to buy is 400Mhz, will i be able to use both, or would it just default to using the slowest/fastest ram and not see the other stick?
Oh and my mobo is an Asus K8V SE deluxe, CPU is an AMD 3400+ clawhammer

0ubliette

can anyone tell me if it would be possible to go ahead with this upgrade?
Thanks!!

8T8

200Mhz = 400Mhz DDR is double the clock rate so that is normal.

The Asus K8V SE deluxe is a S754 board which explains the 3 DIMM slots, S754 boards where intended for AMD Semprons which do not use dual channel memory controllers.

This means that you can go ahead with the memory upgrade the 1GB will work in the system and performance will not be impacted as it is not running in dual channel mode in the first place.

However according to the manual if all three slots are populated the board will drop the speed to DDR333 or DDR200 depending on the DIMM's so it will be running a little slower.

In order for DDR333 to be usable with all 3 DIMM slots filled
DIMM 1, 2 & 3 = single sided in others words chips must be only one side of the module.
Or
DIMM 1 - double sided in other words chips can be on both sides of the module
DIMM 2 - single sided
DIMM 3 - double sided

Any other config than the above will drop the speed to DDR200 with all three slots filled.

0ubliette

Thats really great, thanks i appreciate it 8T8. Im positive my exsisting 2 memory modules have the cips on one side so i think were lookign good. Thanks again!

8T8

The clincher will be the 1GB module which may very well have chips on both sides on the the module finding one with chips on only one side is not an easy task without having it in front of you.

The Corsair 1GB module is definitely double sided so if your existing modules are single sided it's going to drop to DDR200.

0ubliette

damn, i didnt cop that 8T8, thanks. I think i might just sell my current ram and buy 2 x 1gb sticks of pc3200, thanks for the help again