Memory Question

[James D]

I am running Windows XP and up until recently had two sticks of SDRAM Memory
in my computer 1x 128MB and 1x 256MB. I upgraded by removing the 128 stick
and replacing it with a 512MB stick.

I notice no difference in performance. I told an associate about this and
they suggested that the LARGER of the two memory sticks should be placed in
the #1 slot, that way I would see some improvement in performance.

Is there any truth to this statement? Has anyone else here experienced this
problem as well? Thanks for the input.

 

[Pen]

Location used to matter back in the SIMM days, but not much
since. Even then it was a question of work/no work.
Check your manual about adding memory. You
won't see much change from 384MB to 768MB unless you're
doing video editing, major graphics things, truly massive
spreadsheets or database, or some advanced games.
Regular word processing, web surfing, E-mail
works just fine under XP with 256MB. Many people are
happy with 128MB.

 

[DaveW]

BIOS's can be tempermental. Yes, I have heard of cases where the #1 RAM
slot worked best with the largest RAM stick in it.

 

[Mitochondrion]

Yes, it would be useless to buy the PC3200 512MB Unless you are
planning to upgrade the PC2700 to match, the overall performance you
would notice from upgrading only the one stick would be the result of
the larger address space, not the speed of the new stick. The general
rule of thumb for placement of sticks is Best stick (Largest/Fastest)
goes in slot #1

It could be considered thinking ahead though. Also it is known that
memory modules that are ran at less than their rated speed will be
more stable by some degree.