hello everyone,

i currently have 1gb of pc 5400 ddr2 and was looking to upgrade/expand my total ram

i've been looking at these dual channel ram offers on sites like tigerdirect and newegg and i'm wondering, if i set what would be 2 new ram sticks to run dual-channel-ly, would i be able to keep my current 1gb stick in my computer just outside of the first ram channel (thus giving me possibly 3gb ram?)?

thanks in advance

IF you have enough available slots then the current 1gb stick can be used in alongside the dual channel kit.

actually, the way that dual channell works is if you have the exact same type and amount of memory in both chanells on your mobo(the channells is all about motherboard, not the ram itself) eg if you have 2 1gb, 1 in each channel you have double speed, if you have 4 x 1gb sticks, 2 in each channel it will work, but if you have 3 sticks if any size or type it will not, i believe the reason they market them as dual channel is because they are ready for it since they are the same type, but the first thing to consider is wether your motherboard supports it

i have an asus m2n4-sli board and it is compatible.

and i was planning on buying 2x1gb identical sticks for use in channel 1 and placing the remaining 1 gig non-channelled ram in the second channel slot. but from what i understand, because i have 1 stick that is not paired and channelled with another stick, i won't have 2gb of channelled ram and 1gb of un-channelled ram. is that correct?

Also, i guess i should also add this-

My current RAM is pc5400 but i was hoping to get pc6400 ram. would the 2 new sticks run at pc6400 while the old runs at 5400? or would all sticks be downclocked to 5400?

no, and no, all ram must run at the same speed, and you nees identical sticks in each channell, its only dual channel if both channels are used, and they have the identical ram, all ram on the motherboard must act in exactly the same way when channeled, that is why it only works with even numbers of identical ram in each pair of banks

EDIT: if you are luck you may be able to get away with 2 sticks of 1 capacity in each bank, but most motherboards do not like this