is it ok to run 2 differnt rams at once?

^^ I dont see why not. Just make sure you have a 64bit OS to take advantage of the 4gb of ram. Also, make sure the first 2 ram sticks are in dual channel slots and the other 2 are in the other 2 slots.
 
Yeah their both dual channel
and umm i have a 32bit OS and umm i don't really care about taking full advantage of the 4 gigs lol but what will happen if i don't have a 32bit os?
 
Then your OS will only be able to use just over 3gb of ram so, you are better off just getting one more stick of 1gb than 2gb. Why would you need 4gb of ram anyways? Do you ever hit max ram usage of your current 2gb? If not, then buying more ram is NOT going to increase the performance of your pc at all.
 
Then your OS will only be able to use just over 3gb of ram so, you are better off just getting one more stick of 1gb than 2gb. Why would you need 4gb of ram anyways? Do you ever hit max ram usage of your current 2gb? If not, then buying more ram is NOT going to increase the performance of your pc at all.

I am assuming he will want to run a 64-bit OS sometime in the future. Problem with 3GB of memory is if you want the full works to be in dual-channel, that means you're buying 2 512MB sticks. Pros and cons to both I suppose. I just know running 3GB would be an OCD nightmare for me...and I'm typically not an OCDish type person.
 
well the thing is one of my sticks are dead and i already turned in the rebate so i can't get another so im running at 1 gig so im going to be running at 3 gigs when i buy the patriots
 
but wouldn't only the patriot ram be in dual channel? and the 1 stick be regular? or would all 3 sticks just be singles?
 
You question was if it will be safe.. Yes it will be safe for your system since the RAM has the same specs. Your system will be much faster with the 3 gigs of mismatched RAM as opposed to 1 Gig currently being used.

It sounds like you are not trying to split hairs, so I would just go with the new RAM.

Incidently single sticks of OCD RAM are available if you were trying to match what you have without buying a new kit.
 
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