RAM question

[roccenstein]

I have a Gigabyte M57SLI-S4 AM2 NFORCE 570 motherboard in my PC, which to my understanding can have a max of 4gb of RAM.  Currently I have 2gb of RAM and I was wondering, if I were to upgrade, can I just add 1gb at a time, or do I need to add 2?  I guess the reason I'm confused is that in the old days you couldn't add 128mb if you already had 256mb (for example), but you had to add it in doubles (or at least that's what I remember being told....)     

[honvetops]

If you have 2 x  1 gig sticks in there now and you want to add  one more 1 gig stick, for a total of  3 gigs  (3 sticks)  thats fine*

Keep in mind- 32bit Wndws Vista will not recognize 4 gigs of ram.....

[roccenstein]

No, I have 1gb sticks, and I'm still using Win XP Pro. 

[honvetops]

just an idea*  newegg  (and other companies-I'm guessing) offer much better $$$ deals if you go ahead and buy 2 sticks (dual channel kits) instead of just one.
I myself want to go to 3 or 4 gigs...

1 gig  is  60.00

2 gigs  is  109.00                food for  thought*

gonna get a better sound card instead.............

[patio]

Unless you are running 64 bit version of Windows you're wasting that money on RAM...
Yes it can be done...yes you can make it be recognised...No it will never be utilised...

[roccenstein]

Unless you are running 64 bit version of Windows you're wasting that money on RAM...
Yes it can be done...yes you can make it be recognised...No it will never be utilised...

Three questions:  1.  So you're saying 2gb is enough RAM?  2.  How do you find out if you are running 64 bit version?  3.  What is the difference between 64 bit Windows and regular Windows?

[honvetops]

Patio seems to think (and many others too) that for us general puter users its a waste to invest in more memory than 2 gigs- and I'm glad he said it again, I almost wanted to get one more stick myself but he's right, it will probably just lag there (a waste)......
 So 2 gigs for gaming, some basic media apps and just about everything not requiring intensive data flow should be plenty good. Including if you have Vista.

 here is a link to the mothership where this guy kinda explains 32 vs. 64 bit systems   ..........  "novice users like me need No 64 bit os"

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/64bit/russel_x64faq.mspx

[GX1_Man]

If 2 gigs of RAM on an XP machine is n ot enough, then you have other issues.

"Filling the slots" is expensive and minimul to no return on the investment.