Dual channel worth it for me?

[joman2055]

Right now i have one stick of 512MB PC3200 Kingston memory i was thinking about getting onother stick of the same thing ($50) or possibly getting 1g of dual channel DDR 400 PC3200 (90). basicly my question is, is the preformance gain of dc worth 40 bucks?
Specs
DFI Infinity 875
P4 2.8 (OCed to 3.0)
512MB PC3200

Thanks if there are any other specs that you need i can get them.
Thanks,
-Joe

 

[Blakhart]

The way Intel does dual channel is well worth it. The performance increase is pretty awesome.

 

[joman2055]

thank you

so if i get some samsung dual channel with copper heat spreaders i should be good to go.

 

[Blakhart]

There is no real "dual channel memory", the "dualness" is controlled solely by the chipset. If you place dimms in the right dimm slots on a dual channel mobo, dual channel is enabled. This takes the mem from a 64bit pathway to 128 bits wide. Memory advertised as dual channel by the maker should be avoided as punishment for misleading advertising. Matched memory is another matter.

I would only run same make/model of ram. If you run matched memory, it (the system) should be more reliable, and may allow you to reduce memory timings more than if the memory was unmatched. This is a good thing.

 

[joman2055]

I have no idea how to change memory timings or what the timing really is. so what should i get just anotehr stick of what i have already?

 

[Blakhart]

Yes. Get the exact same memory if you can.
The memory timings are changed in the bios. You will need some software tools to do this properly as you must test each change that you make.
The tool is called memtest86, google for it and read up on it, then I'll tell you how to use it to set your memory to best performance.