Which would be better 2x1 or 2??? RAM Question

[OnlyCurious]

I have a Dell laptop and it came with a 2 x 512mb. I am running Vista.

Should I:

1) Purchase 2 x 1GB and run Dual channel?

2) Purchase 1 x 2GB and have 2.5 GB without Dual Channel? (Keeping one of Dell's 512mb sticks + the 2GB purchased)

Would the dual channel with less memory have better performance?

 

[peterhuang913]

Option 1 would be better.

 

[OnlyCurious]

Option 1 would be better.

That's what I was thinking. Thanks.

 

[turtile]

1GB sticks are cheaper as well. The only reason that you may want to use a 2GB stick is if you plan on using 4GB of RAM in the future.

Dual channel will perform better however, if the memory usage exceeds 2GB, the 2.5GB will begin to perform better.

 

[veg1992]

I have a Dell laptop and it came with a 2 x 512mb. I am running Vista.

Should I:

1) Purchase 2 x 1GB and run Dual channel?

2) Purchase 1 x 2GB and have 2.5 GB without Dual Channel? (Keeping one of Dell's 512mb sticks + the 2GB purchased)

Would the dual channel with less memory have better performance?

Option 1 Performs better but hinders upgrade ability, if you want 4gb in the future Option 2 is your way to go