Need RAM for older system

[Pun]

My computer is old news by today's standards; have a Sempron 2400+ lol. Anywho, I need to buy some RAM for it as I've been grown out of the measly 512MB I've had for about 5 years now >.>. My motherboard only has 3 184-pin DDR DIMM sockets (I have 256MB in two slots atm). I can get a max. of 3GB unbuffered PC3200/2700/2100/1600 non-ECC DDR RAM. Has dual-channel DDR400 support.

What I'd like to know from you denizens of tech support is what my best options are considering those specs. I am absolutely not looking to upgrade my old-ass system as I don't have the money or the need (runs everything fine, just slowly when running multiple processor-intensive programs).

I was looking at: this

Not really looking for so much, an additional 512MB would be fine.

Any suggestions would be most welcome, thanks.

[Amele]

if it supports PC3200; that's probably your best bet. it will probably not be dual channel if you put in three sticks.

I would suggest getting either 2x1GB or 2x512MB PC3200 (DDR400) and just replacing outright. brand won't matter too much but g-skill and corsair are my personal preferred vendors if you're looking for a suggestion.

[Pun]

Would it be out of the question to buy a single 1gb stick of corsair for my extra slot and keep the 256mb sticks in the other 2 slots?

I'd like to purchase this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145505

[levish]

Would it be out of the question to buy a single 1gb stick of corsair for my extra slot and keep the 256mb sticks in the other 2 slots?

I'd like to purchase this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145505

just make sure it'll run at the same specs as the old ram

cas ratings, voltage and speed

[Pun]

Thanks

[Isiolia]

If you're interested in enabling Dual Channel support, you will want to have pairs of DIMMs. If you don't care about that, adding a 1 GB stick -should- work, but usually your motherboard manual (or manufacturer website) will have some info on that.

Most likely you will want to buy a 3200 stick just because of availability. Slower/older stuff is even farther out of production, and can cost more as a result.

Though you did say you didn't want to upgrade, given that you have a Sempron, you should be able to drop in a Athlon 64x2 of some kind, which likely wouldn't be especially pricey.

[Pun]

I went ahead and bought a 1gig stick of pc3200 ddr400 sdram corsair that matched the sticks I already have off of Newegg. I would definitely not mind upgrading my system to anything better than my old Sempron but I just don't have the money to buy anything that I don't especially need; been out of a job and still searching >.<.