Best RAM arrangement?

[Sedwick]

I'll soon be adding two 1GB DDR2 modules to my 3-year-old system's existing gig, which split across two 512MB modules. I currently have one 512MB module in the first of two slots in each of two channels. For the best performance from Windows XP, should I put both new 1GB modules in the first channel and the two 512MB modules in the second channel, or put a 1GB then 512MB in each channel? Or does it not matter? Thanks...

[Krom]

Doesn't matter as long as they are matched pairs in the appropriate slots.

Actually it will be a hair (but not noticeably) slower because 4 sticks combined has a higher capacitance and can't operate at the same clock and timings as 2 sticks, this is a limitation of physics and cannot be overcome. Although just having more memory will probably cancel out the bulk of the performance impact from it.

[Sedwick]

UPDATE! I finally got around to installing the new SIMMs, and I wish I had done it months ago. There is far less disk activity, programs switch, load, and shut down faster. I forgot what it was like to go into standby in 4 seconds! I went with the 1GB then 512MB in each bank.

I've also read some things suggesting my XP Pro might not need a page file now that I have 3GB. I've also heard some programs refuse to run if you don't have it, and that weirdness sometimes occurs. What if I just set the page file to be very small, or at least under 4GB? Any thoughts?

[Krom]

The XP automatic management probably already has the page file set to less than 2 GB, so I'd just leave it alone since it won't hurt anything.