[Novaprospekt]

Hey guys,

I'm considering purchasing an additional 1GB memory stick which would give me a total of 2GB -- this is primarily due to the fact that my frames in BF2142 are not at where I would like them to be.

I currently have 2 x 512MB PC3200 Corsair DDR DIMM's in dual channel

My question is, if I buy a 1GB DIMM of PC3200 DDR, will my BIOS/Mobo get mad and screw up the dual channel?

My motherboard is ASUS P4C800-E.

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The bigger picture of things: I currently don't have the money to buy the super gaming system that I'd like.

I cannot upgrade my video card (ATi x800 XT PE) because my motherboard doesn't have PCI-e slots, and my CPU is still quite decent (Intel 3.2GHz P4 w/ HT and 1MB L2 Cache). So I was thinking a much needed memory upgrade would solve some of the performance hits I've suffered in newer games like BF2142.

So if a memory upgrade would work with the above question, do you think its the right choice until I have the money for a whole new rig?

Thanks for reading

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I currently have 2 x 512MB PC3200 Corsair DDR DIMM's in dual channel

My question is, if I buy a 1GB DIMM of PC3200 DDR, will my BIOS/Mobo get mad and screw up the dual channel?

My motherboard is ASUS P4C800-E.

I would consider getting two 512mb sticks, identical to what you have now. I don't see how a motherboard could continue in dual channel memory mode with a 3 stick configuration.

Whatever you decide, best of luck.

I have no personal experience with the game you mentioned so cannot comment on how more memory would help you out for that specific app.

[Serrik]

I currently have 2 x 512MB PC3200 Corsair DDR DIMM's in dual channel

My question is, if I buy a 1GB DIMM of PC3200 DDR, will my BIOS/Mobo get mad and screw up the dual channel?

My motherboard is ASUS P4C800-E.

I would consider getting two 512mb sticks, identical to what you have now. I don't see how a motherboard could continue in dual channel memory mode with a 3 stick configuration.

Whatever you decide, best of luck.

I have no personal experience with the game you mentioned so cannot comment on how more memory would help you out for that specific app.

[austin_o]

Your best bet would be to refer to refer to your motherboard manual. It will detail what memory combinations will work. I agree with the previous poster. 3 sticks won't get you dual channel.

[dospoy]

I agree that 2 512 chips is your best but...but do you plan on upgrading in the near future?

If so, you may want to save and get DDR2 Ram for the newer motherboards. I just got a new motherboard and an e6600 processor and much to my dismay i couldn't use my 2 gigs of DDR. I kicked myself because it wasn't too long ago that i bought the extra gig.

but if you love bf2142, and you feel you need the upgrade, then by all means go for it. more ram never hurt anybody.

[warriorscot]

Well i dont think BF2142 is going to be even that great after by all reports its half assed, badly planned and badly coded, as bad as the original BF2s problems without being good enough to balance it out alot of people on very good systems dont get good fps with it.

You will probably mess up your dual channel and most motherboards dont like having odd numbers of sticks at different sizes especially. Check the motherboard manual most have a table of combinations of memory that work.

[Novaprospekt]

Hmm thanks for the input guys.

If I do decide to go with a memory upgrade, I'll probably go with the two 512MB sticks as suggested.

The big problem is, my motherboard constricts my upgrade capability. I can't get a new video card without getting a new mobo because all cards now are PCI-e and I only have an AGP slot. Plus my CPU is alright and I don't wanna dump that just yet unless I get a brand new system and I don't have the money for that yet :/

So yeah, the short term fix for declining performance I thought would be to double my RAM.

I do plan to upgrade in the near future, perhaps 6 months? But not sure what my financial state will be then.

And yeah BF2142 is demanding. but what I've noticed is that it's a memory hog, so if I feed it more RAM, maybe it will quell some of the other issues I have with it.