Dual channel ram

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silent111

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I have recently seen ram advertised as Dual Channel, is this a marketing ploy to get me to buy as I was under the impression as long as ram was paired (same size, etc) in the correct slots on the mobo it would run on Dual Channel anyway. :eek:

I currently have:
2 x 256mbs of ram in slots 1 and 3
1 x 512mbs of ram in slot 2

I used a program called CPUZ to determine whether they were running in dual channel and it said they were, they seem to be working fine as I have no probs running games such as NFSMW and BF2 (other than a bit of lag I put down to my graphics card). Could this configuration cause probs??

I know that it is best to have same size ram and same make, blah blah blah, but best I can do at mo, any suggestions. :confused:
 
To the best of my limited knowledge when running ram in dual channel mode you need two identical sticks of ram ie a matched pair placed in the same colour ram slots.

As for selling ram as "dual channel" ram it must mean a matched pair of identical sticks I would imagine.
 
Dual channel ram just means it has been pre-tested that the two sticks will work together in dual channel. You do not necessarily need "dual channel" ram in order to run in dual channel mode.
 
silent111 said:
Could this configuration cause probs??
It depends on your motherboard. In some (my MSI board for one), it may cause instability (according to the mobo manual) and it definitely would take it out of dual channel mode with a third module installed.
 
You cant run dual-channel with the configuration you have listed. Dual-channel needs memory in pairs and you have 3-sticks.

You CAN run DualDDR, which is AMD specific on certain AMD mainboards. This allows 2-memory banks to work in unison with 1-memory bank. (In your case, Bank-1, 512mb and Banks 2-3, 256x2 (512) ).
 
hi guys i got a question but didnt want to start up a new thread.

is there a big performance boost when using dual channel? say if i had a 1gb stick in one comp and then 2x 512mb sticks in dual channel in another would there be a big difference?
 
you won't feel much difference in that setup....too many people will that there's a huge performance increase just to rationalize their spending $70 for more RAM, but statistics have already shown that you only gain about 20-50 points on 3DMark05, and thats by doubling RAM size, not speed. Single channel can run as fast as 400 Mhz but mainstream goes at 333. the dual channel mainstream is...533? i can't remember, i'm using 667 Mhz rite now...if you doubled the the RAM cache size as well as the speed then you'll see a noteable increase.
 
Longhurst said:
To the best of my limited knowledge when running ram in dual channel mode you need two identical sticks of ram ie a matched pair placed in the same colour ram slots.

As for selling ram as "dual channel" ram it must mean a matched pair of identical sticks I would imagine.
You don't need two identical sticks of ram for dual channel to work. Two sticks with two different speeds will work together, but the speed of the faster stick will be lowered to that of the slower stick.
 
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