Adding more ram slows down computer??

Salincer

OSNN Junior Addict
Joined
7 May 2007
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Alright, so i got my big deal with the ram fixed. Ive been playing WoW for like six months and working great with 1gb of ram. So now, i found a 256mb ram stick (pc3200) in my closet. I have a extra slot open so i said "Hey, wont hurt to put this in my computer" so i popped it in, ran memtest 86 all night, no errors at all. So i played WoW today, and i noticed it was alot slower, i was getting 7 fps (its horrible..need new video card) and now im getting like 3 or 2...is there any way that 256mb ram would slow down my computer? Also, i had this problem before, but my USB devices flash every now and then....like i would be listening to music (via headset) and then Boom...it sounds like it turns off for a good secound. Also when it does that...it feels like the power shuts off, and turns back on....like turns all the USB things off for a secound. This started happing while i was syncing my ipod, and my power went off....

Thanks,
Salincer
 
Wow, that does not sound good.... not good at all. I would check to see if the stick is seated firmly in the socket. If it is, and you are absolutely sure.... take it out. That doesn't not sound healthy. As far as adding more Ram causing your system to be slower... there are some cases where that might happen but because of the other things you mentioned I doubt its any of those. Sounds like something is not right with the hardware, and might be causing permanent damage to the rest of the system.
 
what are the colours of the slots for memory on your mainboard? - sounds to me like you were in dual channel mode and you have effectively taken it out of that into single channel mode... do you have details of your motherboard and do you know what I am referring to?
 
then your first post makes no sense to me - since board has four slots and you said you had 1GB then found another 256? so were there four 256 sticks in? If so how could you put another in?

Only way I see it is you had 2x512 and added 1x256, which as I was guessing, would deffo put it into single channel mode (but NOT if you added another 256 in the right slot)
 
I HAD in my computer..
2x 256 (Dual channel)
1x 512 (kingston)

that is 1gb lol...
but ATM... i have 1gb+256MB
In my first slot...i have the new 256 i just put in
In my secound slot...i have a 512 kingston
in my 3rd and 4th slot...i have 2x exactly same dual channel memory
 
Mix matching memory brands, sizes and speeds is never a good practice especially in a dual channel setup. I would say remove the 256 stick you found and just be happy with the way it is.
 
Make sure all sticks are PC3200. If not ditch the slower sticks. Timing will not matter that much. Your system should default to match the slowest stick, but may not. Download cpuz.exe and use it to get the speeds and operating config (dual/single) of your ram sticks.

Put the 2 matched sticks in the first sockets your system manual recommends for a dual channel pair. Put the 512 in the next socket and the 256 in the last.

If your Bios is not too bright and thefirst sticks have faster timing than the other stick it could cause a problem with the slower sticks failing. If this is the csae manually set timing to whatever cpuz says in the slowest (biggest numbers).

If you think your USB drivers got corrupted or the ipod software then uninstall the usb devices in device manager and remove the ipod sofwtare in add/remove programs. Then reboot. windows will reinstall the drivers. Then reload your ipod software.
 
Okay, i downloaded CPU-Z. Says:
Type: DDR
Channels #: Single
Size: 1280 MB
Frequency: 199 MHz
FSB:DRAM: CPU/5
CAS# Latency: 3clocks
Cycle Time: 8 clocks
Bank Cycle Time: 11 clocks

Im going to try and verify how much it makes my computer slower
 
Perhaps run a benchmark like 3d Mark 03 or Aquamark and compare scores with and without the additional stick.
 
i just moved my 2x256 (suppose to be dual channel) to the first 2, but cpu-z says its still single. and i couldnt find anything about it in my bios...0.0 my bios is like handicaped or something...i cant touch one bit of it!
 
Well it most likely says its single channel because you are running more than two sticks of RAM. On older motherboards they did not work in dual channel mode if there were 3 or more sticks installed. Try uninstalling the third bastard stick and see if it reports any differently.
 
and i couldnt find anything about it in my bios...0.0 my bios is like handicaped or something...i cant touch one bit of it!

And you never will. Compaq/HP lock their bios so you can not adjust anything. I expect this on a laptop but was surprised when I found they do it to their desktops too.

BTW Your socket 939 MB may support dual channel but I doubt if the Sempron 3200 CPU it comes with does. So adding the memory should not have caused a slow down. On CPUz next to the memory tab is a spd tab. On that screen select the drop down window and you can get the details on each ram stick in the system. Make sure every stick shows up as DDR PC 3200. The timings will vary a little but have no big effect.
 
each one is pc3200. with 1gb of ram (what i started at ) i have like 800 3d marks or w.e..with 1256mb, i have like 700
 
i blame compaq for making a computer with training wheels...im going to start making my own computers now :D
 
Well, more than likely it sounds like adding in the odd stick of ram ruined your dual channel mode. If you have an AMD64 processor, then dual channel doesn't matter anyway. If you are running an Intel processor, that's where you see the difference.

Now, your CPU-Z readings of the ram doesn't tell us each piece of rams ratings. Are you sure they all are PC3200? Your new piece of ram might have slower timings that it really does a number on the system compared to the other pieces.
 
The 2x 256 Dual channel timings are 3.0 @ 200 MHZ
The 512 Kingston timing is 3.0 @ 200MHZ
The samsung 256mb (new one) is also at 3.0 @ 200 MHZ

Im not sure :(. But is there anyway i can tell if my dual channel is enanbled or not?

Edit: IMO, if i cant get the ram to do anything, pull it out...break it...throw it away and go buy a video card....onboard isnt nice:(
 
i'm not really sure what all the fuss is about for 256MB of RAM.. :s
 

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