Upgrading RAM, Odd or Matched?

[Louie]

I have decided its time to upgrade the ram in my Macbook (2,1)

It currently has 1gb of Ram (2 x 512mb sticks).

I have read a matched pair is better, but I can only go up to 3gb of Ram with my Macbook. I was going to buy a single 2gb stick for a total of 2.5gb of Ram, but I cant shake the thought that an unmatched pair will hinder performance.

Will an unmatched pair of sticks really effect the performance of my beloved Macbook?

Thanks

 

[Noels]

Louie,

Not really. You can do that and end up with 2.5, but just FYI, if you installed 2x2GB for a total of 4GB of Dual Channel RAM, you'd have matched and get use of 3.3GB, not just 3.0GB...

Noel

 

[Louie]

Thanks for your help, Its nice to know that I could put 4gb in there. I might just leave the upgrade for now and get 4gb in the future when I "need" more Ram.

Thanks once again

Louie

 

[[email protected]]

Louie,

Not really. You can do that and end up with 2.5, but just FYI, if you installed 2x2GB for a total of 4GB of Dual Channel RAM, you'd have matched and get use of 3.3GB, not just 3.0GB...

Noel

I have a question and I don't mean to hijack the thread but can you explain how you can get 3.3 with 4GB if the max is 3GB for the machine?

 

[Louie]

I originally thought that 3gb was the maximum, but I guess OSX will be able to use up to 3.3gb of the 4gb.

 

[DrEwTiMe42o]

So i guess the real question would be if its worth it or not to purchase the other gig stick to only use .3 gigs of it.

Why they made the max under the max the computer can handle is beyond me