memory upgrade from 1 to 2gb

My system:

2 Corsair 512 MB PC3200 DDR400, Value Select
AMD Athlon 64 3800+, 2.4GHz, 512k Cache, Socket 939
Asus A8V with Audio-GB.LAN-S.ATA RAID (Socket 939) (4 memory sockets)
Win XP

Would I benefit from the upgrade to 2GB? If I would, should I add 2
more 512MB sticks or remove the old memory and add two new 1GB sticks?

Thank you.

VR wrote:
> My system:
>
> 2 Corsair 512 MB PC3200 DDR400, Value Select
> AMD Athlon 64 3800+, 2.4GHz, 512k Cache, Socket 939
> Asus A8V with Audio-GB.LAN-S.ATA RAID (Socket 939) (4 memory sockets)
> Win XP
>
> Would I benefit from the upgrade to 2GB? If I would, should I add 2
> more 512MB sticks or remove the old memory and add two new 1GB sticks?
>
> Thank you.
>

The bus speed might need to be reduced, or you might need to use
Command Rate 2T, in order to run four sticks of memory. If it was
my machine, I would purchase 2x1GB DDR sticks and remove the existing
2x512MB sticks. Use the 2x1Gb by themselves.

In terms of the type of memory to get, there are cheap sticks of 1GB
size on Ebay, and I would avoid those. You want DIMMs that use 64Mx8
chips. The following document is an example from Kingston, of a
properly designed DIMM with 64Mx8 sticks. If an Ebay advertisement
says there are "restricted chipsets for compatibility", that
means you should stay away from it. These sticks are CAS3, and you
may be able to find CAS2.5 or CAS2 memory as options as well.

http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/KVR400X64C3A_1G.pdf

HTH,
Paul