Which is better to use a total of 384 MB SDR or a single 256 MB DDR?

Answer 1

Actually, it's really dependent on what you are doing. If you are using the latest O/S like Windows XP Media Center, probably the larger size will help. However, the speed of the RAM is also playing the role. I'm not sure about the latest speed of those types of RAM. I remember one type of SDRAM runs at 133 MHz, while the DDR SDRAM runs at 400 MHz or even 800 MHz (nowadays). This depends also on the mother board specifications. Check the mobo spec!

In most cases DDR is faster than SDR. The 128 MB difference is too small for any of the newer computers for it to matter.

Upgrade your memory size if your processes need more memory, upgrade the speed if your computer is running slow but has enough memory.

In this case, just upgrade the RAM to DDR2 or DDR3.

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First off, it should be noted that a computer built for SDR will not use DDR memory, and vice versa. But, also note that when memory is used in the slots available, there is a certain amount of latency when using two sticks of like memory. Most manufactures recommend that if all the slots are to be occupied, then sticks of like type, size and manufacturer is the optimal preference. Also, even if you did use sticks from different manufacturers, the speed drop is negligible. Now, the speed architecture of the memory is important too. As with DDR, there were several speeds that were built to compliment the speed of the CPU. (266 MHz, 333 MHz, 400 MHz and so forth). If you had a computer that supported 400 MHz, and you used a 400 and a 266 on the same board, the board FSB (front side bus) would default to the fastest speed of the slowest memory stick. IE: one 266 and one 400 would yield an FSB of 266. The benefit of upgrading your computer to support the newest memory architecture, DDR2, is outstanding, considering that the DDR2 is cheaper than DDR or SDR (30 to 50% differences) this alone could offset the price of a newer CPU and main board.