Dual Channel RAM question

[LordScythe]

I've got 2x512MB Patriot RAM in a dual-channel setup on my mobo. I've also got a random stick of 512MB RAM that I was using before the Patriot stuff was installed. Since you can't have all three installed and still have dual-channel set with the Patriot RAM, is it more beneficial to have 1.5GB RAM that isn't dual-channel, or only 1GB dual-channel RAM?

 

[Didou]

Try both out & see which setup works best for you. That's the only way to find out.

 

[Tedster]

your choice - faster, or more.....

Some motherboards are multi-channel, but it's uncommon. I'd personally sell the older ram. You won't see much of a difference in performance over 1gb except with a few selected games.

 

[captaincranky]

Sometimes you can get away with a bunch

I've got 2x512MB Patriot RAM in a dual-channel setup on my mobo. I've also got a random stick of 512MB RAM that I was using before the Patriot stuff was installed. Since you can't have all three installed and still have dual-channel set with the Patriot RAM, is it more beneficial to have 1.5GB RAM that isn't dual-channel, or only 1GB dual-channel RAM?

Intel boards (w/ dual channel RAM) will actually permit you to run an asymmetric RAM array. They call it "interleaved mode". The first equal sections of RAM would run as dual channel, and the third odd man out DIMM would run as single channel. If this sounds too strange, download an Intel board manual and read it for yourself. If I'm understanding what I read correctly about 32 bit windows, natively it will only permit an application to access two GB of RAM, without using what they're calling a "Three Gigabyte Switch". Which is a command line modification too complicated for me to remember, let alone to go into here.