Questions About RAM

[TARPSBird]

Got a $50 Best Buy gift card as a Father's Day present from my daughter-in-law and the girls (my son's in the Afghan). Don't really need anything in the way of hardware/software, but... since I got the card to burn up I was thinking of buying another 2 GB stick of RAM. I have a couple questions: (1) Without changing settings in the sim, will the additional RAM likely give me better frame rates in FSX/FS9? (2) If the RAM I add is faster than the RAM I already have (say, 800MHz vs 667MHz) does the speed default to the lower-speed stick?

[stansdds]

It has been my experience that RAM sticks should be matched. That means manufacturer, speeds, and if possible, production lot numbers. Mixing RAM is more likely to slow your system or cause a failure to boot or run properly.

As for more RAM improving FS9, it might. My old computer ran FS9 just fine with 1 GB of RAM, going to 2 GB made little improvement. FSX likes more RAM and 2 GB is ok until you add in 3rd party programs like weather, scenery, and AI air traffic, then you need even more RAM.

[aeromed202]

It also matters what OS system you use. I have XP Home which I believe can use only up to about 3G of ram and adding more won't help, a least with my setup. Win7 is configured to make use of much more, around 8 to 16G. That's one reason my kids laptop has such great video quality.

[kilo delta]

If the RAM I add is faster than the RAM I already have (say, 800MHz vs 667MHz) does the speed default to the lower-speed stick?

Yes.It's better to run a matched pair to avoid hardware issues.

If you've a 64bit OS the system will access more than 4GB of memory, 32 bit is generally limited to ~3GB. It's also worth mentioning that if the motherboard's chipset isn't capable of accessing more memory,it doesn't matter which OS you run (eg. the Alienware m9750 notebook I'm typing this on has 4GB of RAM installed, but it's chipset limits the amount of available memory to 2.5GB.

[TARPSBird]

My OS is Windows XP Home 32 bit so from what I've read here and online I guess I'll max out at 3-something GB of RAM, I can live with that for now. My motherboard only has two 240-pin RAM slots anyway. If the additional RAM kicks up my sim frame rates a bit (especially FSX) that's fine. Thanks for the comments everybody. :salute:

[napamule]

It is more important that whatever amount of Ram you install, that the Ram be 'matched pair' (in your case). That doesn't mean 'matched capacity size'. It means 'matched (at the factory by technicians using test equiptment we don't have access to and couldn't use if we knew how to FIND sticks that are 'matched' specs wise) pair'. Makes a LOT of difference in performance. Or rather: NOT having matched pair of sticks will RUIN your 'perfect specs' rig performance. Costs a few bucks more, but well worth it. If you care. And with FSX you have to care a lot (or else). Just my 2 cents.
Chuck B
Napamule