Dual channel

MadMacs · 24 Feb 2007 at 11:32

Ok I have a Dual channel memory motherboard and I already have 2x 1gb sticks in there. (Making 2gb)

I want to upgrade to 3gb, so is there any difference in performance between having 2x512mb and 1x1gb stick? :confused:

ps
(My motherboard only has 4 slots, so if I hade 2x512 sticks it would be full)

Thanks

Minstadave · 24 Feb 2007 at 12:10

Whats the rest of your setup? What OS is it running and what do you use your system for?

MadMacs · 24 Feb 2007 at 14:39

Hopefully my system will now be in my sig. And i'll be using it for a number of different things (Some games, web browsing, music ect)

So is there a difference then between having the 2x512mb sticks and just the one 1gb stick?

Minstadave · 24 Feb 2007 at 14:40

MadMacs said:
Hopefully my system will now be in my sig. And i'll be using it for a number of different things (Some games, web browsing, music ect)

So is there a difference then between having the 2x512mb sticks and just the one 1gb stick?

Your sig is one line too long, please cut it down to 4 lines

MadMacs · 24 Feb 2007 at 14:44

Done, so can you shead any light here? :rolleyes:

Minstadave · 24 Feb 2007 at 14:47

MadMacs said:
Done, so can you shead any light here?

Don't use rolleyes if you want help, it'll just annoy people.

Firstly, you may find adding more RAM will give you no performance increase, though Vista does seem to like more RAM (it will use all you give it, so ignore Vista's RAM usage stats, its all used for caching).

A problem you will face is filling more than 2 slots on your mobo will drop your command rate from 1T to 2T, which incurs a small performance hit.

The difference between adding one gig or 2x512mb modules shouldn't make much difference, I don't think you lose dual channel with 3 modules in iirc.

MadMacs · 24 Feb 2007 at 14:50

Minstadave said:
Don't use rolleyes if you want help, it'll just annoy people.

Firstly, you may find adding more RAM will give you no performance increase, though Vista does seem to like more RAM (it will use all you give it, so ignore Vista's RAM usage stats, its all used for caching).

A problem you will face is filling more than 2 slots on your mobo will drop your command rate from 1T to 2T, which incurs a small performance hit.

The difference between adding one gig or 2x512mb modules shouldn't make much difference, I don't think you lose dual channel with 3 modules in iirc.

Ok thanks, so do you personaly think it's worth upgrading to 3gb?
sorry about the rolleyes thing, I just thought it was a confused look

Minstadave · 24 Feb 2007 at 14:54

MadMacs said:
Ok thanks, so do you personaly think it's worth upgrading to 3gb?
sorry about the rolleyes thing, I just thought it was a confused look

Its cool don't worry about it

I haven't bothered upgrading to 3GB simply because I run XP and haven't managed to top 2GBs usage.

I'd hold off with the upgrade in your position, you don't want to buy 2x512MB modules as they'll have zero resale value when you upgrade. Also DDR is a poor buy at the moment due to high prices and low demand second hand. I doubt it'd bring you much performance increase too.

MadMacs · 24 Feb 2007 at 14:59

Ok thanks, I think i'll just stick with 2gb then

XtAsY · 25 Feb 2007 at 08:42

MadMacs said:
Ok thanks, I think i'll just stick with 2gb then

If your going to be doing heavy gaming (which you have already stated you do play "some" games) and your running Vista, you may even want to look at going for 4 GB RAM, but only if you were to ever play games heavily.

MadMacs · 25 Feb 2007 at 12:55

XtAsY said:
If your going to be doing heavy gaming (which you have already stated you do play "some" games) and your running Vista, you may even want to look at going for 4 GB RAM, but only if you were to ever play games heavily.

I'm happy to get 4gb I've just read a few people say this will be an overkill. I would have course like my games to play as best as they possibly can. So is there any bad side to having 4gb?

thanks!