Mix 'n Match

[Cobracon]

I have a collection of used/leftover parts I'm using to build a "Jukebox" computer. It's sole purpose in life will be to play music. There will be the occasional CD rip or burn, and very limited Internet use. The guts are:

ECS 755-A2 v1.0 Motherboard
Athlon 64 2800+ 1.8GHZ CPU (ADA2800AEP4AR)

My question centers on the RAM I have to choose from, and what combination will be the fastest. The mobo has 2 slots for RAM. I have 3 sticks of 256MB DDR 400 (PC3200) CL3, and 1 stick of 512MB DDR 400 (PC3200) CL3 RAM. I want to run the 512MB stick in one slot, and one of the 256MB sticks in the other. A friend said running different capacity RAM in each slot will actually SLOW DOWN the computer, and to either run the 512MB stick by itself OR run two 256MB sticks together.

I need some feedback, as I've never run different capacity sticks in the same computer.

[Unzlbunzl]

put 512 + 256 into the machine, in fact dont worry, a pentium 2/ 64 mb ram / win 98 would be enough for your purposes

[Chiefish]

If anything it may not run in dual channel mode if the board is even capable of it, But if the timmings of the two different ram are not the same it may default to the slower speeds, which for the purpose you are going to use the machine for you will never notice. Sometimes when they are different chips by different manufacturers they will not run well together at all. If all you are using the box for is music and ripping/ burning you will have no problem with 512 megs tho, with or without xp.