Mixing different sizes of memory
 

I need a website with hard data and technical details as to why this will work (non dual-channel system)

Thx ;) Having trouble convincing someone...

I can't help you with the Tech. details, but for data just look in the motherboard manual. It should have a table with RAM configurations.

No specific board, just in general

It'll work fine! It may not be optimized for the best performance, and overclocking may not be as easy or stable, but it works perfectly fine. Hell, it even works with different speeds of RAM. Using different speeds of RAM can cause big time instability, but technically it should work fine.

I think you should ask your friend: why shouldn't it work? RAM is RAM, and adding different amounts doesn't require special setups or anything. The only downside to adding different RAM amounts is the instability issues that usually only occur when overclocking.

-Lasereth

His reason is "its not a balanced number... ie: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512..."

It doesn't have to be balanced. The only thing that's "balanced" is RAM sizes. There are 128 MB sticks, 256 MB sticks, 512, 768, 1 GB, etc. Putting them together will simply result in a different amount. I have 768 MB of RAM in my PC right now. I have a 512 MB stick and a 256 MB stick. That equals 768 MB. Wahoo!

Sounds like your friend is trying to make it more complicated than it needs to be. PCs will accept any amount of RAM as long as it's the correct type for the motherboard.

-Lasereth

yup, i've done this and its always been fine
however i was told to put the larger ram chip into the first memory slot, 2nd largestest into the next etc..... is there any truth to this? or doesn't it really matter?

That's just good practice hellkite, it doesn't 'have' to be done that way... just makes sure your larger stick gets filled up first.

if your board lets you set memory timings, you might want to set them liberally.

aggressive timings for fast ram might cause problems with slower/lower quality modules

cool thanx :)
you learn something new everyday...