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There are two types of memory that you can choose from.

• DDR
• DDR2

DDR is the older, and less expensive type of RAM. DDR2 is newer, and considerably faster than DDR. DDR is very capable and can deliver great performance. However, most of the new motherboards coming out are DDR2. You might be able to find some good prices on DDR motherboards.

For a mid to high-end system I would go with DDR2, so that you have a motherboard that can take the latest type of RAM.

You must also consider how many slots your motherboard has for RAM. Most motherboards will have either two or four of these slots. If you just have two slots, and you buy two 256meg RAM chips for it, you now have no more room for additional memory. Because of this, you should always buy your first amount of ram as a single chip, and not several chips.