Installing Memory

[Mike B]

Hello,
I have a Gateway DX430S desktop containing 4 memory slots. The first slot contains a 512MB card, the next slot is empty, the third slot has another 512MB card, and the fourth slot is empty.

I just ordered 2 x 1GB memory cards from Crucial.

Question: Can I install the 1GB cards in the empty slots, or, do I have to move the 512MB card in the third slot into the second slot and then install the 1GB cards into slots three and four?

Thanks,
Mike

[RickyTick]

Hey Mike. Welcome to the forums.

I'm not familiar with that pc or motherboard, but I'd guess that you should put the two 1gb sticks in DIMM 1 and 3, and put the 2 512mb sticks in slots 2 and 4. If I'm wrong, someone will correct me soon.

[The Wise Monkey]

Are the slots different colours? Do they have little writing next to them? Most DDR2 motherboards have two dual channels, and some RAM performs best as dual channel RAM, so you should always keep the pairs matched up if possible.

The convention is for one channel to be slots 1 & 3, and the other channel to be slots 2 & 4.

[Mike B]

The system has an Intel G965 Core 2 Duo E6600 Pentium motherboard.

The slots are all the same color and I did not notice any small writing when I had the case open.

Thanks,
Mike

[The Wise Monkey]

You should go with the 1-3,2-4 layout mentioned above then. Don't worry, your RAM will work no matter where you put it, but you will get the best performance using that configuration.

[Mike B]

Thank you!

Mike