Legit Reviews

Hi everyone,

I'm starting to educate myself about memory and I have what I'm sure are simple questions.

I have an Athon 64 X2 5600+ machine which has an "ECS MCP61PM-HM" motherboard and "NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430" chipset. The machine supports 8GB of RAM and I intend to max it out. The motherboard has slots for four memory modules (2 GB each). I'll be running Vista 64-bit. I have two simple questions.

First, I noticed several memory manufacturers sell their memory in "kits". For example, I can get two 2GB modules of Mushkin memory as a "kit". My question is, why would I want to buy a "kit"? Is it cheaper to purchase two 2GB modules as a "kit" than to buy the modules separately? Are the modules in a "kit" somehow more compatible? I need four 2GB modules. Should I buy two kits of two or should I simply buy four 2GB modules separately?

I have a secondary question unrelated to memory. Will a given motherboard always have the same chipset?

Thanks very much. BTW, the computer is an HP m8100n (please don't laugh -- it was dirt cheap).

Tom

Buying 4 of the same 2 gig sticks would be the same as buying 2 kits of 4gig (2x2gig)

I am pretty sure that buying in kits will be cheaper than buying seperately

not necesarily, if you bu y two different 1 gb moudules they wont work in dual channel

Buying a kit is ideal as the modules have been tested together at the factory for the rated speed they are being sold at and are sure to work together.

Buying modules separately means that they have just been individually tested and not running dual channel with another module. Sometimes modules fail or have stability issues with other modules and that is why they started selling kits other than the fact most systems are dual channel these days. If you want to be certain that you get a kit that works out of the box then buy a kit!

Okay, but kits only have two modules (at least the ones I've seen). I'm needing 4 modules. Is there a way I can purchase 4 modules that "have been tested together"? I'm hoping if I get two kits (total of 4 modules) of the exact same type of memory from the same maker I should be okay.

Also, again, is it possible for the same motherboard to have been produced with more than one chipset? Or,is a motherboard automatically tied to a particular chipset?

Thank you very much for the responses.

Of course.... Companies like OCZ for example have 4 x 1GB and 4 x 2GB memory kits

4GB - http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/m ... m_quad_kit

8GB - http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/m ... m_quad_kit