2GB or 4Gb for Quad 6600?

Caracortada_uk · 9 Sep 2007 at 15:02

Hi all, need a bit of advice. Im going for a Q6600 in my PC for gaming but to also futureproof for possible vista upgrade if it proves viable after its SP1 release.

Currently thinking the Quad 6600 (95W) with 2x1Gb DDR2 PC8500. Though 4x1GB DDR2 PC6400 is the same as the 2x2Gb, but thinking the lack of dual channel and slower speed would over rule this option?

Am i correct in saying quad channel boards are still the price of a small country?

arfur · 9 Sep 2007 at 15:24

check out my sig, runs everything perfectly, on Vista HP

Cob · 9 Sep 2007 at 15:24

2x1gb, 4x1gb and 2x2gb will all run in dual-channel.

The only reason to choose PC8500 over PC6400 is if PC6400 will hold back your CPU overclock (unless the PC8500 is cheap ofcourse). And that's unlikely to happen with a Q6600.

And I don't think there's any such thing as a quad-channel board.

Caracortada_uk · 9 Sep 2007 at 16:05

Cob said:
And I don't think there's any such thing as a quad-channel board.

My current board has 4 slots. If i put in 2 lots of ram it runs in dual channel, but 3 and dual channel turns off. Do current boards allow 4 lots of ram, with both pairs running in dual channel?

4x1Gb PC6400 is roughly the same as 2x1Gb PC8500. So going for 2x1Gb PC6400 now and getting another 2 of the same when i need it is the best option? Or is 2Gb of RAM a bottleneck in its own for a quad core?

Cob · 9 Sep 2007 at 16:12

Which motherboard do you have?

Yes three sticks disable dual-channel, because the total amount of memory in each of the two channels is different. But it's re-enabled if you add a fourth, providing the amount of memory in both channels is now the same eg- 2x1gb + 2x1gb.

2gb won't bottleneck a Quad. But some of the new games play a bit better with more.

Caracortada_uk · 9 Sep 2007 at 16:25

Unsure of what board to get. Thinking of the Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R as it does both DDR2 and DDR3, is it an ok board? Just want a nice good board that has the features i want (good with memory, cpu and PCIe, optical audio out is mandatory) overclocking isnt going to be used.

So i could get 4x1Gb and have both pairs running in dual channel? Bloody nice one!

That sounds better than 2x2Gb in dual channel, or is there a catch?

Cob · 9 Sep 2007 at 16:40

Yeah the Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R is good.

And nope no catch of 4x1gb, other than it taking up twice as many slots.

arfur · 9 Sep 2007 at 17:27

Caracortada_uk said:
Unsure of what board to get. Thinking of the Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R as it does both DDR2 and DDR3, is it an ok board? Just want a nice good board that has the features i want (good with memory, cpu and PCIe, optical audio out is mandatory) overclocking isnt going to be used.

So i could get 4x1Gb and have both pairs running in dual channel? Bloody nice one! That sounds better than 2x2Gb in dual channel, or is there a catch?

in the past dual memory boards have always under-performed or were subject to major bugs, choose either DD2 or DDR3 IMAO, they did it with 30pin/72 pin, SDRAM / DDR and now DDR2/3