can you have to much hash?

[bob]

sje wrote:
Another factor is the physical memory configuration in a multiple DIMM box. If not all the DIMMs are the same capacity or some are unpaired, then memory access time could vary depending on the size and location of the transposition table.

bob wrote:
Never run on such a box, and anyone using one for chess is an idiot.

I wanted to understand this. the dimm is the ram chip? i had one 512 meg before now i have two 512 megs filling both slots. i think the computer was suppose to take a 2300 or 2100 speed ram chip but the store didnt have that but they had a 3200 or 3300 and it said on teh back it was downward compatible with the lower speeds. Is this an issue? it sounds like i'm getting nothing out of this maybe i shoudl pull the ram chip out.

Mike

There are lots of things in this world that you "can do". You can put your foot under a running lawnmower, even though there is a clear warning sign on top that says you should not. You can operate a chain saw in the rain, where the ground is cluttered, and cut high over your head, even though the warnings say not to do this. And you can mix and match memory modules and use the wrong number. On an i7, you can use 2 sticks rather than 3, even though a triple-channel machine is faster with 3. You can fail to follow guidelines about memory bank population in an interleaved-memory system, even though the documentation says to avoid this because of performance degradation.

But for chess, you ought to follow the manufacturer's guidelines. Doing it any other way degrades performance significantly.

Running faster RAM generally won't hurt a thing except for your wallet, however, so I would not worry about it since you already have the parts on hand.