Upgrading RDRAM

[UberKreb]

I bought a Dell 8250 when RDRAM was thought to be the new hip thing, but unfortunately that has proven false. I currently have 512mb (2x256mb) of RDRAM in computer, and I have been wanting to upgrade to 1024mb in hopes of getting rid of the brief (half a second) pauses that occur frequently in newer games (Half-Life 2 and Doom 3). I was originally planning to just replace the 256mb modules with 512mb ones, but that's a pricey proposition ($400 - $500). I then saw that the 256mb modules were much cheaper and that has me wondering if a 4x256mb set would be much worse than a 2x512mb set. I'm new to the hardware world so I don't know exactly whether I should go with buying two more 256mb modules or two 512's. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[Darthtanion]

Re: Upgrading RDRAM

As long as the motherboard supports this configuration you should be fine. RDRAM has to be installed in pairs so the addition of another set of 256 modules shouldn't be a problem... if the motherboard supports this. The best thing to do is to hit up the Dell website and punch in your service number from the sticker on the machine. This should bring up your system specs with links to other information. The information may also be included in the user manual that came with the system.

As far as performance is concerned, you won't be losing anything since dual channel memory support came well after the RDRAM craze.