Simviation Forum - Upgrading RAM... at last

Oct 17^th, 2005 at 2:30pm

NWISimmer Ex Member

Hello all.

I've been a good lad this month and i've managed to get through the financial month (20th - 20th) with a few quid spare, despite the impending birth of our 1st child! Which means we can treat ourselves to an upgrade. We're not talking thousands here, just £80 or so, so i need to choose carefully. I currently have an ADVENT T9201:

P4 3.4E Prescott, TriGem motherboard Intel 865PE chipset, 512mb PC3200 RAM with 1 slot free, ATi Radeon 9550 256mb video card, 250gb (233gb real) HDD.

Full spec http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/pc/t9201.htm

The missus and i both use the PC, me for surfing the web, mp3 converting/burning, flight simming, SimV'ing.. Grin

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The missus uses it for music, photo & video editing, and surfing.

We're happy with the CPU, HDD and optical drives... so no need to upgrade there. But a bit more speed would be nice!

My question to you all is, would adding 1x 1024mb stick to my existing RAM work better than 2x 512mb (matched pairs) running in dual channel mode? In effect, is the extra 50% RAM running in single channel mode quicker? Also, if i go the dual channel option i'll have a stick of memory to sell so it should work out cheaper though not by much.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Rob.

P.S. I'm gonna blow the warranty by upgrading....

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Reply #1 - Oct 17^th, 2005 at 7:39pm

congo Offline
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The dual channel mode is the way to go, it will run much faster, I've tested it on the 865PE chipset.

There is no way they are going to void your warranty for adding a ram stick. If you have warranty work to be done, remove the added stick then send it in. They won't know, even if they did, I doubt they would care, just don't admit it. That's just an out for them to avoid warranty work. Evil sons of beaches.

Warranty isn't worth a pinch of sheet anyway, my friend just recieved his PC back from warranty, he paid $400 extra for the extended warranty, his PSU blew the mainboard, cpu, ram, etc, etc..... so they said, they gave some excuse and billed him for the repairs of over $1000, so instead of having a new shiny 64bit rig, he's got the same old junk and he's $1500 worse off......... 5 months later!

My sister gets new Laptop, $3800 with extended warranty, gets bill for $800 and it's not fixed after warranty work.

They figure, if you are stupid enough to buy extended warranty......... they will really put the screws to you.

Mainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24" WS LCD

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Reply #2 - Oct 17^th, 2005 at 8:51pm

the_autopilot Offline
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Dual channel is much better.

Link to sig:&&Click here&&(Cannot post signature here due to current forum restrications on linked images).

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Reply #3 - Oct 18^th, 2005 at 10:22am

congo Offline
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Make BIOS your Friend
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I actually added a 512mb stick to a dual channel 865 setup, the memory bandwidth fell markedly.

However, the 2.4ghz cpu equipped intel system seemed more than equipped for it's purpose even with the reduced performance, so, I left the sick in the machine for "safe keeping". The extra stick has been removed now, and is in service as a business PC ram module for a friend. The Gigabyte mainboard - Intel 865PE chipset, 2.4ghz P4HT cpu, 2 x 256mb (512mb ram) PC is back in dual channel config and is in service on my network being set up as an IL2FB server.

It's the PC I purchased and compared/reviewed alongside the AMD 2600+. Soltek Golden Flame - nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset mainboard, 2x 512mb (1gb ram) PC I recently sold.

The 865PE chipset has a lot going for it, though it is superceded.

Mainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24" WS LCD

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Reply #4 - Oct 18^th, 2005 at 1:14pm

NWISimmer Ex Member

Thanks for your replies lads, I was hoping you'd say that! Wink

I'm going to my local computer fair on Sunday, there's always a bargain to be had there, so hopefully i'll find a kit within my price range (£100ish - i've been offered £20 for my old stick + my £80).
As for blowing my warranty congo, I have a strategically placed hologram sticker right on the join of my case/side panel. It says "Warranty void if removed or tampered with" and i deem it impossible to remove the side panel without doing either..... unless you boys have any ideas ???
Cheers again

Rob.

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Reply #5 - Oct 19^th, 2005 at 5:16am

congo Offline
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Make BIOS your Friend
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Screw the warranty I say. It's less hassle to just fix it yourself.

I'm thinking though, would they notice the sticker was tampered with if you backed your car over the PC?

Other than that, I'm fresh out of ideas.

Mainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24" WS LCD

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