Memory Upgarde...Pl help

[prasoum]

HI Gurus,

I bought PC5300(1GB) memory. My computer had PC3300(256MB) memory. My question is should I use both or should only use the faster one.
With both I will get more memory but slower speed as it will operate on PC3300 specification. If I use only PC5300, I will get faster memory but less size (i.e 1GB instead of 1.256GB). Please help me with this...I am using XP and not planning to upgrade to Vista.
Thanks

 

[macdude425]

WOW...I wish I knew what you were thinking when you bought RAM that was far faster than that already in your machine - you probably should have realized that it would have to underclock itself a great deal.

I would just put in the 1GB stick - combining it with the 256MB stick could cause problems and it's not like you'll see a big difference from 1GB to 1.25GB.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

If it was me, I would keep just the PC5300 in the rig, and set the PC3300 aside for now, maybe for future use on another rig, or if you have RAM failure... It wouldn't HURT to using both just to get an idea of how it would perform, then try the same with JUST the PC5300, and see if there are any major differences.