dual channel or single channel?

hi, this is my first time posting.

i've been doing some research on what is the best way to install ram but i can't find a good answer.

i currently have two sticks of 512mb ddr400 ram. the question is: am i better off running in dual channel mode where i effectively have 512mb of ddr800 ram or running them at single channel mode and have effectively 1gig of ddr400 ram.
oh, i am running a MSI K7N2 ILSR mobo with an xp2500 cpu running at xp2800 speeds.

i know the perfomance boost for dual channel is about 5% but what is the performance boost of going from 512mb of ram to 1gig of ram.

finally i use my computer mainly to play games and to rip and encode dvds.

thanks.

 

Hey!

Nobody knows better than the user. Single Vs Dual has it's benifits and there is one way to find out.
Run in Dual and see how it performs tailored to YOUR needs. Change to single and you be the judge!
Here is an independent test.

http://www.winhq.net/showdoc.php?dtype=articles&id=22&page=1

Hope this helps you .

 

thanks ianski7 it think it does. i'm pobably not even going to try dual channel.

thanks.

 

Hey! If you don't try you'll never know. It's up to you but I would at least test it out--who knows you may prefer it!

........and no problem.

 

im using dual channel mode and have seen a performance increase while working with dvds over single channel mode , its all in what you prefer as stated above .