Ram Placement order?

Question

This may silly but... I have a machine with 2GB if Ram and I just bought 2 more. All 4 DIMMS have the exact same specifications. I thought I'd move the older 2 to the last last 2 slots and put the newer Ram in the first 2 slots. The thought being the older chips could use the rest. Does this make any sense?

Thanks.

Answer 1

No, that really does not make much of any sense. All RAM will receive power when the machine is turned on no matter what slot they are in and be "used". It does not matter what slots they are in. The only thing that might make a difference is if you have dual,triple, or quad channel RAM setup's, then you would want to configure RAM in a certain way for maximum performance. You said you have all identical sticks though, so that shouldn't be of a concern.

Answer 2

Well, if you want to give them a rest, better remove them from the slots. Put them in a nice, dry box and check upon them regularly, making sure they won't corrode. Once you think they're well-rested, you can insert them back in those slots again and they will work just as hard as before. :-)

Oh, just kidding. Since you added more RAM, it's likely that they will be used less often since the memory is now divided over four DIMMS. But the OS will claim more RAM, simply because you have more. Since the processor will just map the RAM to whatever location it likes, there's just no clear way to tell which slot will be preferred more than others.