Upgrading from 2GB to 3GB RAM (XP 32bit)

[mnelson07]

My current rig specs are in my signature, except I underclocked my CPU down to 3.0ghz for a daily basis because 3.0ghz is decent enough for what I do and it keeps the CPU cooler.

I digress. I am wanting to upgrade to 3GB of RAM from my current 2GB. I find I max my 2GB out quite often running a multitude of programs on top of any games I may be running. I do a lot of web design these day for my university and I have both dreamweaver and photoshop open tabbing between both too.

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In short, I think a boost of 1GB would be beneficial and I don't have the means to upgrade (nor desire) to go to 64bit yet. So, I currently have this RAM:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
and, because I want to keep dual-channel, I plan to get a 2x512mb kit. So far, I'm looking at:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Are there any issues that I might be overlooking with picking that RAM to give me 3GB and keep my moderate overclock up? Any other suggestions that would preform better for a bit more or less money?

Thanks in advance!

 

[[t..o..m]]

I personally just moved from 2GB to 4GB of RAM (even though im only running 32bit OS) and have seen a marked improvement in performance in XP.

My OS see's about 3.25 of the RAM in total which is pretty good, and the extra RAM is there if I want to move to 64bit OS some day.

As RAM is cheap now day's I would look at getting 2x1GB sticks or 2x2GB sticks. Be advised that running 4 sticks of RAM compared to 2 sticks limits your overclocking of the RAM. I had to set my RAM overclock to default when i went to 4 sticks as it wouldn't run

 

[mnelson07]

Yeah, but the 2x512mb sticks is $23 whereas 2x1GB sticks is $99 (for the type I have).

 

[[t..o..m]]

argh that sucks. Oh well you should still see a good improvement with the 3GB.

 

[AP4LIFETN]

Your combining RAM that runs at different voltage and timings, your HZ's would loosen its timing to run at 5-5-5-15 instead of 4-4-4-12. This is what you should do, sell your 2GB kit to someone for approximately $50 (they are still good because of their amazing overclocking ability, mine was 4-4-4-12 @ DDR2-1000 2.1V), and buy a 4GB set (they are like 50-75 dollars on newegg)

 

[mnelson07]

Looks like these are the most popular 2x2GB set:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Look good or is there a better 4GB kit for OC that I don't know about?

(I built this rig about a year ago and have been out of the know for a while)

 

[Gabb]

Looks like these are the most popular 2x2GB set:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Look good or is there a better 4GB kit for OC that I don't know about?

(I built this rig about a year ago and have been out of the know for a while)

I'm also in your same situation ( look at my specs ) and the ram you mentioned has 5-5-5-12 timings which isnt impressive at all for ddr800 but it is running at low voltage so I dunno

personally ill prob just get the corsair XMS2 or OCZ 4 gig kits for $40 and just put my G.skill 2 gigs on reserve

 

[mnelson07]

Ok, I'm planning on doing that. My birthday is Saturday and my gf wants to buy the 4gb ram for me... so I need help on finding a good kit. I'm still looking at:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Any other suggestions?

 

[1337_JohnN]

Newegg.com - G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

This is what a lot of people recommended to me.

 

[baron5]

yes those PI's are great, im pretty sure the pi series is just the pq's memory chips with the new cooler, which works quite well imo. a pq set of ram would be good if u want to stay cheap.