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If you add PC400 (3200) DDR to a P4 system with 333 RAM then the system will run at the speed of the slowest RAM stick installed.

You'll benefit from the extra RAM even if it runs at a slower speed to your existing 512MB as XP is certainly happier with 1GB rather than 512MB.

The best solution would be to get all of the RAM at the same speed, this would more than likely run "Dual Channel" giving a further speed boost.

Expect to pay £55 for decent 512MB RAM and approx £110 for 1GB.

The  Advent T9201, from what I've read ( http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/pc/t9201.htm ) , has an Intel 865PE chipsel (so it supports Dual Channel) ( http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/865PE/ )  and it should have PC3200 RAM already installed, if thats the case, then as long as your new Memory matches stick for stick your old RAM, then the 1GB will run "Dual Channel" if the RAM sticks are not identical, you will still have 1GB to play with but, at a slower speed i.e. the dual channel won't work on mixed RAM sticks even if they are all PC3200 !
Either way, XP will benefit from the 1GB RAM over 512.

Hope your not too confused now!

Hi Simmer,

You won't get the performance that PC is capable of unless you run the PC3200 in Dual Channel mode, thus eliminating the RAM bottleneck on the bus.

In fact, you may get slower performance by adding another ram module to your current Dual Channel configuration, (if in fact you have 2 x 256mb sticks in the correct Dual Channel slots), thus reducing your PC's actual bandwidth capacity.

You can download a wonderful little program called EVEREST to test your bandwidth for comparitive analysis between configurations. Everest is a system info utility that looks exactly like Aida32, ( it may be the same for all I know), and it gives a very lot of useful info about your system. Basically, if the bandwidth goes down, the PC is slower, despite the amount of ram installed. ( I know it sounds wierd but it's true!)

I'm still a little confused about what you actually do have, but this is what you need................

2 x identical (or near identical) Ram modules of the same size and speed (preferably bought together from the same batch!).
Usually, 2 x 512mb modules are sufficient.
Quality RAM (not the bargain basement stuff!) is pretty much a requirement for high speed ram on dual channel setups.

These modules must be placed in the 2 "dual channel" Ram slots in order for the dual channel configuration to be enabled. As far as I'm aware, no other RAM configuration on an 865PE chipset will work in dual channel mode.

Beware buying more, and getting less.  

I cannot help wondering why you thought you had 333mhz RAM modules, and I wonder if your Front Side Bus and RAM (and CPU?) are configured for the correct speeds in BIOS setup.........