Alzheimerr's ! memory confusion ????

[Abarbarian]

Hi I'm about to build my first ever pc . Read all the bumf on the mobo and it says I can have 2Gb of DDR memory in total in the two slots provided . Then it goes on to tell me I can have 128 or 256 or 512 of DDR 200/266/333 Mhz SDRAM in the slots .

Theres a note in the Bios instruction " Bank Interleave-The item allows you to set how many banks of SDRAM support in your mainboard . Default is by Spd . The options are 2Bank, 4Bank, Disabled . " There are other memory settings in the bios but I don't think they are relevant to my question .

So 2 x 512 is 1GB of memory where the heck do I put the other 1 Gb ??????????

Do I really need 2 Gb of memory or would 1 Gb be fine ??

Thought I'd ask first this time before rushing of and buying . Any mega cheap deals out there at the moment .

 

[Me__2001]

for the average user 512MB is sufficient, 1GB IMO is ideal 2GB is overkill if your not going to need it

what are you going to be using the system for ? and what motherboard are you using ?

for basic office work and internet get 512MB

gaming and image/video editting you want 1GB minimum

the BIOS should auto detect the SPD settings so leave it for the time being

 

[Abarbarian]

Got a

FIC AM39 L SOCKET A MOBO + Athlon 1800 Palomino

and would like to do some gaming and image video editing . It will only be a temp setup as if I can build it and it works I'll be moving upward and onward asp. So I thought if I bought a 1 Gb memory stick it could move to a future setup .
Seems the price of DDR 400 memory on special offer is slightly cheaper than the DDR33 on some sites . Can I use this on my mobo as it would be better memory when and if I upgrade .

Going to have a go at overclocking too

Thanks for the reply .

 

[ChristopherP]

Athlon 1800? Gaming and Video editing would be an ambitious task for such a CPU!! Still... Might be OK... Just don't expect a 6/7 year old CPU to be that good!

You can use DDR400, yes

What graphics are you going to get?

 

[Abarbarian]

Ta for the reply . Belive me if this pc works it will be like a Rolls Roycye compared to my pc . Apparently I could use a Athalon XP (Barton core) 3000+ cpu which would bump it up a bit more .
Graphics will be decided later . Lets see if I can get this to work first .

Still confused as to how I get 2Gb of memory onboard . Is it simply a case of slotting in two 1Gb cards into the slots and if so why didn't it say so in the manual . Techie geeks they never make things nice and simple , do they .

 

[Me__2001]

you'd need 2 sticks of 1GB RAM to get 2GB as you only have 2 slots

 

[Abarbarian]

Ta for the reply . Knew there would be a simple answer .