2 RAM questions

Hi
I have a couple of questions for ya:
1. One of my ram stick seems to be dead. When I use ONLY that bad stick, the PC says the stick is 524MB instead of 256, and doesn't boot completely (stops at different booting stages). Should I just throw that piece of plastic or is it correctable? (That stick worked just fine 'till last evening).

2. Whats better - 1GB RAM @ Dual Channel or 1.28GB @ Single Channel? Why?

TNX for your help

 

1. If you can boot with the one suspected RAM module, run memtest for a diagnosis (hardware wise)

http://www.majorgeeks.com/MemTest_d350.html

2. 1gig of RAM in dual channel mode (2 x 512mb) will be faster than a single module on one channel.....but not sure how you would get 1.28 gig in single channel configuration (unless you mean 2 x 512 mods that dont support dual channel configuration)

Remember that your motherboard must be supportive of dual channel and you will need double data rate modules!

Basically the dual channel devices exhibited a lower. threshold voltage than the single channel devices due to the band alignment!

Regards...

 

The PC currently has 4 x 256, well, had. It's an old rig and I'm planning to buy a new one soon, so I really don't want to spend money on it.
So you're saying 4 x 256 are better then 3 x 256 and a 512 stick? (for multitasking and games).