Question about Ram? two different Ram memory sticks?

Question

I want to upgrade my laptop. It has two 256 meg ram sticks in it. Can I take out one ram stick and install a 1 gig ram stick of the same spec? This would make 1280 megs of ram.

Answer 1

Mixing and matching RAM sticks is not necessarily a problem. No matter what combination you have in there it will work. On most computers built after around 2000 tho there is a reason for having 2 of the same. If you have 2 identical sticks (same brand, size, etc.) then it activates a technology called DDR (Double Data Rate.) When there are 2 sticks your PC will basically treat them as a single stick. It can read and write to them simultaneously. With two different sticks it will only write to one at a time, so it will fill up one before the other effectively halving the speed at which it works.

I recommend getting either 2 512 sticks or even better 2 1gig sticks. It will probably feel a lot faster that way.

IMPORTANT: These links are for DDR2 memory. If your PC is a bit older it likely uses original DDR. They are not compatible with each other. Check which generation of memory you need before buying. I recommend www.newegg.com for all PC hardware purchases

2x512 Kit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...

2x1GB Kit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...

Answer 2

Check with your laptops specs at the company website.  Just because your adding memory, does not mean your laptop can handle it.  If you go over the recommended amount, it will do more harm than good.

Basically buying more memory will do nothing for your system.  It will only use the amount it can max out at.

Answer 3

some people say no, but that is exaclty what i have in right now, seems to be working fine to me, lol

Answer 4

Yes, you can.