I am planning on upgrading my home brew computer from Win98/512MB to
WinXP Media Center/1GB. I currently have two sticks of KHX3200K2/256MB
and I have the timings set to 2-2-2-6 with MAT/PAT enabled. According
to Memtest86 I am getting a write speed of 2570MB. I see that Kingston
no longer makes this memory.

Should I get 2 more sticks of 256MB, such as:

OCZ Enhanced Latency 512MB (2 x 256MB) (2-3-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146895

Kingston HyperX 512MB (2 x 256MB) (2-3-2-6):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144113

Patriot 512MB (2 x 256MB) (2-2-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220032

or should I get 2 sticks of 512MB either in addition or in lieu of the 2
sticks of 256 MB:

Patriot 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220006

OCZ Enhanced Latency 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146896

gigaram Mach 1000 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820221134

Crucial Ballistix 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-2-2-6):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148007

Kingston HyperX 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-6):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144114

I have read an article on memory and the 865PE
(http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=1839)
and it seems I would be better off either adding two more 256MB/SS
sticks of memory or replacing them with 2 sticks of 512MB/DS, since it
would appear that I would take a speed hit by mixing SS with DS sticks
of memory.

What would you advice?

Also, if you feel that I should just add 2 more 256MB/SS sticks of
memory, which one would give me the best speed with the memory that I
already have? Is there any impact of using slower speed memory with the
2-2-2-6 memory I have?

My processor is an Intel P4 2.4C, and I plan on using the system mostly
for transferring family video to DVDs with ocassional game play.

I might even add a TV Tuner card (that is why I am going for WinXP MCE
2005) in the near future (Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE:
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16815116628).

Thank you for any and all help/advice.

Please remove "nospam" if you send me a reply via e-mail

If you mix higher speed RAM with lower speed RAM, the faster memory will
drop down to match the slower. You're best bet would actually to be to buy 2
sticks of good 512MB RAM and use the 256MB sticks in something else, or sell
them as used. The price difference between 256MB and 512MB is not much at
all.


"Peter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
I am planning on upgrading my home brew computer from Win98/512MB to
WinXP Media Center/1GB. I currently have two sticks of KHX3200K2/256MB
and I have the timings set to 2-2-2-6 with MAT/PAT enabled. According
to Memtest86 I am getting a write speed of 2570MB. I see that Kingston
no longer makes this memory.

Should I get 2 more sticks of 256MB, such as:

OCZ Enhanced Latency 512MB (2 x 256MB) (2-3-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146895

Kingston HyperX 512MB (2 x 256MB) (2-3-2-6):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144113

Patriot 512MB (2 x 256MB) (2-2-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220032

or should I get 2 sticks of 512MB either in addition or in lieu of the 2
sticks of 256 MB:

Patriot 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220006

OCZ Enhanced Latency 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146896

gigaram Mach 1000 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-5):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820221134

Crucial Ballistix 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-2-2-6):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148007

Kingston HyperX 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-6):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144114

I have read an article on memory and the 865PE
(http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=1839)
and it seems I would be better off either adding two more 256MB/SS
sticks of memory or replacing them with 2 sticks of 512MB/DS, since it
would appear that I would take a speed hit by mixing SS with DS sticks
of memory.

What would you advice?

Also, if you feel that I should just add 2 more 256MB/SS sticks of
memory, which one would give me the best speed with the memory that I
already have? Is there any impact of using slower speed memory with the
2-2-2-6 memory I have?

My processor is an Intel P4 2.4C, and I plan on using the system mostly
for transferring family video to DVDs with ocassional game play.

I might even add a TV Tuner card (that is why I am going for WinXP MCE
2005) in the near future (Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE:
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16815116628).

Thank you for any and all help/advice.

Please remove "nospam" if you send me a reply via e-mail

Thank you Eric for your response, but alas my computer has been on the
fritz since I updated the BIOS from 1.3 to 2.5. I finally resurrected
it thanks to the MSI Forums and not the tech support from MSI. They
wanted me to send the MB in for repair.

I wound up purchasing the Patriot 512MB (2 x 256MB 2-2-2-5), but now I
wonder why I even bothered. Since I upgraded to the new BIOS (to
support the new 200GB drive I bought) I cannot get my system to run
stable at anything but 2-3-2-6 with the speed set at SLOW (no PAT/MAT)
(2232 MB/s). I have not installed the new memory yet, but I have the
Kingston Memory still at 2.65V. With BIOS 1.3 I was able to run at
2-2-2-6/Ultra-Fast (PAT/MAT 2642 MB/s). When I place the memory in the
same configuration with BIOS 2.5 I get a throughput of 2712 MB/s
reported by MemTest 86+ with no reported errors, but I cannot run
Win98SE of Linux (Simply Mepis 3.3.1-1) without either crashing .

Thank you again and sorry for the late reply,
Pete

Erick wrote:

> If you mix higher speed RAM with lower speed RAM, the faster memory will
> drop down to match the slower. You're best bet would actually to be to buy 2
> sticks of good 512MB RAM and use the 256MB sticks in something else, or sell
> them as used. The price difference between 256MB and 512MB is not much at
> all.
>
>
> "Peter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am planning on upgrading my home brew computer from Win98/512MB to
> WinXP Media Center/1GB. I currently have two sticks of KHX3200K2/256MB
> and I have the timings set to 2-2-2-6 with MAT/PAT enabled. According
> to Memtest86 I am getting a write speed of 2570MB. I see that Kingston
> no longer makes this memory.
>
> Should I get 2 more sticks of 256MB, such as:
>
> OCZ Enhanced Latency 512MB (2 x 256MB) (2-3-2-5):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146895
>
> Kingston HyperX 512MB (2 x 256MB) (2-3-2-6):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144113
>
> Patriot 512MB (2 x 256MB) (2-2-2-5):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220032
>
> or should I get 2 sticks of 512MB either in addition or in lieu of the 2
> sticks of 256 MB:
>
> Patriot 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-5):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220006
>
> OCZ Enhanced Latency 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-5):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146896
>
> gigaram Mach 1000 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-5):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820221134
>
> Crucial Ballistix 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-2-2-6):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148007
>
> Kingston HyperX 1GB (2 x 512MB) (2-3-2-6):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144114
>
> I have read an article on memory and the 865PE
> (http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=1839)
> and it seems I would be better off either adding two more 256MB/SS
> sticks of memory or replacing them with 2 sticks of 512MB/DS, since it
> would appear that I would take a speed hit by mixing SS with DS sticks
> of memory.
>
> What would you advice?
>
> Also, if you feel that I should just add 2 more 256MB/SS sticks of
> memory, which one would give me the best speed with the memory that I
> already have? Is there any impact of using slower speed memory with the
> 2-2-2-6 memory I have?
>
> My processor is an Intel P4 2.4C, and I plan on using the system mostly
> for transferring family video to DVDs with ocassional game play.
>
> I might even add a TV Tuner card (that is why I am going for WinXP MCE
> 2005) in the near future (Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE:
> http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16815116628).
>
> Thank you for any and all help/advice.
>
> Please remove "nospam" if you send me a reply via e-mail
>
>