i hav got 865 GBF intel, now i know that it can support upto 4 GB of RAM (i need that much 4 rendering in Maya/3d max).. wat is the optimum config i shud keep? bcoz i hav heard about dual channel ram support.. so wud 2 RAM sticks of 2 GB be a better config choice? or 2 sticks of 1 GB + 1 stick of 2 GB?? or 1 stick of 4 GB? or any other config thats better? thankyou very much in advance loneliness breeds pervertism

End of the world guy...... http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?Mfr%2BProductline=Intel%2B+Motherboards&mfr=Intel&tabid=AM&model=D865GBF&submit=Go

With regards to personal computers & desired memory (RAM), the law of diminishing returns really kicks in once you start delibrating 3GB/4GB configuration. 2GB isn't even that common to consider it as mainstream but that may change very soon, especially after Vista goes GOLD. IMHO, a memory upgrade is still the easiest and least intrusive method of boosting any PC's performance and there is no time constraint to it. If you have a motherboard that accomodates 4 dimm slots, get a couple of 1GB dimms and run 2GB in dual channel mode. For now you won't have to start worrying about the performance hit you are going to get by slacking the RAM speed & timings if you venture for more memory until you *really* need to. Computer Components

If money is not a huge issue, the absolute best would be 2x2GB sticks. Also note that if you do get 4GB of memory, only 3.7 will actually be used, the rest will become part of the page file. The reason for 2x2 is because that even though you may get matching timings, the memory controller and other devices that can utilize DMA must access four slots instead of two slots and this may bog the system a tiny bit due to some "unseen" latency periods when instructions must be fetched accross a very large span of cells placed in different parts of the circuit. But this is for optimal, this may or may not bother you. Peformance different wil be minimal between two sticks or four. Now if you had an AMD Athlon 64 Winchester, Clawhammer, Manchester, Newcastle, or anything older than a Venice, San Diego, or Toledo, then you would want to have two sticks of memory because of the shoddy memory controller on those cores.