memory question for upgrading my KT3 Ultra2 mb

note: some off-topic newsgroups to which this was cross-posted were
removed

On 27 Jul 2004 13:38:14 -0700, (Jim) wrote:

Hi - I have an MSI KT3 Ultra2 board, currently housing an AMD 1800+
and 256Mb 2700 ram.

I want to upgrade my system and have heard this board will support an
AMD xp 3000 333FSB with a bios upgrade.

I am also thinking of upgrading to a gigabyte of ram.
My existing 2700 256Mb currently occupies 1 slot of my 3 memory slot
mb.

My questions:
1. would it be best to get 1 x 1Gb or 2 x 512mb dimms? I can get an
unbranded 2700 1Gb cheaper than the cost of 2 x 512Mbs... is there any
difference?

Not really, though there's certainly a possibility that your board
won't support memory modules made with the newer, higher-density
512Mbit chips. If that is the case it would pretty much rule out
using a single 1GB DIMM and would require that you be a bit careful
about which 512MB DIMMs you chose (512MB DIMMs made with 8 chips of
512Mbit a piece wouldn't work, those made with 16 chips of 256Mbit a
piece would).

I don't know for sure if that would be the case or not, as your board
is from right around the time when manufacturers first started
supporting 512Mbit memory densities. Might be worth checking into
though.

Other than the density issue though, only difference is that a 1GB
module will only take up one slot and the 2 x 512MB modules will take
two.

2. since I'm not going to be overclocking, just going with best
standard settings, would there be any advantage with going with
branded memory, or should unbranded 2700 memory be fine?

*ALWAYS* go for branded memory. Unbranded stuff fails FAR too often
and usually don't come with much of a warranty at all. Branded stuff
is usually only a few dollars more expensive. Don't worry about
getting the super-dooper PC7000, CAS-0.5 with Ultra Platinum heat
spreaders and Blinky Lights (tm), it's a waste of money. However
something like Corsair Value Select memory, Mushkin Basic memory or
genuine Samsung modules will work just fine and only cost about $10
more than the no-name stuff.

3. would there be any advantage/disadvantage, of including my old
256Mb dimm along with the new 1Gb (in either 1x1Gb or 2x512 formats) ?

Advantage is that you'll have a bit more memory. Disadvantage is that
some motherboards lower the memory timings a bit, particularly if all
three memory slots are full (ie if you go for 2 x 512MB format). This
will result in about a 1-3% loss in performance (ie not much) any time
you're using less than 1GB of memory.

4. can anyone suggest a better upgrade option?

Upgrading memory is almost always one of the best and most
cost-effective methods to upgrade a computer. A new and faster hard
drive is another good option for improving the "feel" of the machine.
Faster processors, of course, always help, and new video cards can
really help for games (though not for most other things).

-------------
Tony Hill
hilla underscore 20 at yahoo dot ca