RAM mixing question

Xeno

Hey guys, maybe you can help with RAM.

Ok, a program I used which gives you specs about your computer. It says I have 4 slots and 2 of them are taken up by 2 512's. They are DDR PC3200. It also says that each memory slot can hold DDR PC3200,DDR PC2700,DDR PC4000 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.

Now I'm not sure what I want to do. I'm assuming the best course of action is to buy RAM that is DDR PC3200. But does it matter if it's the same "Brand" or is that irrelevant? None of the programs told me what the brand of RAM was.

Also, is it wise to buy a 1gb stick and put it in there just incase I want to buy another 1gb stick down the road, or is it better to buy 2 512's right now because performance will be better? Thusly I will have 4 sticks each at 512mb.

Thanks a lot guys.

edit- Here is what I was thinking of buying. 2 of these. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...9&Sku=ULT30215

Problem is that they are some ultra brand while there are some others like corsair. Is this relevant?

Here is the second one I was thinking of.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10047706&catid=10486&logon=&langid=EN#

Philodox

Unfortunately with RAM there's no way to tell if it will play nice. Sometimes you can get lucky and you can find experiences with somebody online who has tried the combo you're looking at but that's extremely rare. Another confounding issue is the motherboard you are using.

Generally speaking if the timings and speed of both sticks of ram can be matched within spec of the ram it will work together. That being said, I have seen many instances where that isn't the case. The sure fire way to make sure your ram works is to buy everything at the same speed from the same manufacturer.