Dual Channel or Quad?

[m3lisk]

Would it be better to run 4 1gb sticks in quad channel, or 2 1gb and 2 2gb in dual?

[Wile E]

Sorry, but no such thing as quad channel ram (yet, anyway) Either setup will likely net you dual channel. Also remember that 32bit Windows won't take advantage of that much ram.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Quad channel definitely. However, your board doesn't support it. If you did have the hardware that supports it you would know.

[Wile E]

Quad channel definitely. However, your board doesn't support it. If you did have the hardware that supports it you would know.
I assume that's a server thing then? My hands-on with servers is limited, so I was basing my answer on my experience with desktops.

[DanTheBanjoman]

FB-DIMM thing. The specs even mention 6 channels. So yes, server/workstation thing.

[Wile E]

Ahh, I see. Thanks Dan, that's good to know.

[m3lisk]

Alright, so I guess I'll grab 3 1gb sticks of DDR2, for only $45 a piece off newegg.

[Agility]

Your third ram wont be of much use since Dual channel is occuring. So when your 2sticks of 2GB ram total is being used, then windows will use the only single one to store memory in it. If you dont run applications of more then 2GB then i suggest getting two sticks would be enough. Correct me if i'm wrong.

[m3lisk]

Well, wouldn't that help my fps in most games? Such as Oblivion, FEAR, and Far Cry?

[largon]

RAM doesn't improve FPS. More importantly it reduces the need for HDD swapping.

[m3lisk]

I know that, but it should still improve fps by at least a small margin, plus it helps with multitasking and running program editors. At $45 for 1gb DDR2 800, I dont see why I shouldn't get 4gb.

[Wile E]

I know that, but it should still improve fps by at least a small margin, plus it helps with multitasking and running program editors. At $45 for 1gb DDR2 800, I dont see why I shouldn't get 4gb.It wouldn't hurt at all. If you're dead set on having 4GB, now would be the time to buy, that's for sure.

[Solaris17]

were is this $45 for 800 stick deal i want in!

[Wile E]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147+1052307858+1052416064&name=DDR2+800+(PC2+6400)

[pt]

were is this $45 for 800 stick deal i want in!

uk'ers don't have rights to have it :p
look at these:
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=BL2KIT12864AA663

[Urbklr]

Get either 2Gb in two sticks or get 4GB. I thought if you got 3 Sticks you loss Dual Channel?
If you get 4GB you wont have to upgrade RAM for a while, unless you are planing on going DDR3 sometime in the future. I find 2GB of ram is plenty anyway.

[m3lisk]

Get either 2Gb in two sticks or get 4GB. I thought if you got 3 Sticks you loss Dual Channel?
If you get 4GB you wont have to upgrade RAM for a while, unless you are planing on going DDR3 sometime in the future. I find 2GB of ram is plenty anyway.

Not if you have 4 1gb sticks, and you run 2x dual channel. Even with three I'm pretty sure you can run dual off the two and then have one just chillen.

[Dippyskoodlez]

Not if you have 4 1gb sticks, and you run 2x dual channel. Even with three I'm pretty sure you can run dual off the two and then have one just chillen.

Single channel mobos have all 3 or 4 slots on a single channel.

DUal channel mobo has 2 slots on each channel.

Quad could have any arrangement...

But if you have 3 sticks, you end up with 2 in one channel, 1 in the other.

You still get dual channel, but you dont get the performance benefit of adding a stick like going from 1-2 sticks gives because its still in the same channel.

4x 1gb would provide the same. Just 2 in each channel.

[DanTheBanjoman]

If you use 3 sticks the controller would revert to single channel, channels need to be identical.
If you have 4 sticks you don't have 2x dual channel, you still have 2 channels with 2 modules on each channel. You don't get 2x single channel on a single channel board when you use 2 modules either.

[Dippyskoodlez]

If you have 4 sticks you don't have 2x dual channel, you still have 2 channels with 2 modules on each channel. You don't get 2x single channel on a single channel board when you use 2 modules either.
Thats what I said :laugh:

If you use 3 sticks the controller would revert to single channel, channels need to be identical.

I've seen manuals say otherwise, but I've not actually seen tests of this.. (It was actually a few NFII manuals that had pictures of dual channel combinations, and had 3 sticks listed)

[DanTheBanjoman]

Then those manuals are wrong. The only requirement for dual channel (besides controller support) is that the channels are identical, which they clearly aren't with 3 sticks.

Perhaps you've seen board with 3 banks and dual channel support, in such cases you can't use the 3rd bank if you want dual channel. It's just like my current board, I have 6 banks though if I want to use all 6 I can't use quad channel, just dual.

[tkpenalty]

Hey M3lisk, do this, get 2x1GB kit + 2x512MB Kit = 3GB.

[Weigy104]

when dan said identical he meant identical. Using 2x 1GB sticks with 2x 512mb sticks is not identical the mobo would still revert to single channel again. To get dual channel working you need to use pairs of identical sticks. If you want 4gb of RAm best thing to do is get 2x 2GB sticks that would run dual channel at full speed.

ALso alot of motherboards reduce the speed of the memory interface if you fill all four slots. For instance with mine it reduces the memory from DDR400 to DDR333 its not enough to notice a difference in performance really but still...

[DanTheBanjoman]

ALso alot of motherboards reduce the speed of the memory interface if you fill all four slots. For instance with mine it reduces the memory from DDR400 to DDR333 its not enough to notice a difference in performance really but still...

Depends on the chipset, I've used 4 modules of DDR400 at DDR400 speeds before on i865/i875 chipsets.

[m3lisk]

Hmm... well I already have a 1gb stick, so if I buy 3 more, I will be set. Or should I buy another 1gb, and 2x 2gb? Or maybe sell my 1gb and buy 2x 2gb?