What is dual channel?

nirok · 2 Feb 2006 at 16:34

Hi have have just bought 2Gb of dual channel mushkin ddr400 HP3200. I was just wondering *** dual channel is? If i want to upgrade to £gb can i get another 1gb dual vhannel ram? or do i have to get 2?

Why cant i say W O T?

james.miller · 2 Feb 2006 at 16:42

1) its where 2 memory controllers work together to privide double the bandwidth by working simultaniously.
Yor dual channel kit will be two sticks of ram. Plug 1 stick into a slot for each controller on the motherboard (it'll tell you in the manual which ones to use) and you'll have dual channel.

2) 3gb. it will work, and it wont. it's like basically giving one controller 2gb and the other 1gb. Some of it will be accessed as dual channel, the other will be single

i hope that makes sense

3) It's just the forum rules here. Makes it easier to read for us

nirok · 2 Feb 2006 at 16:51

1)so is it best to buy another dual kit?

2)my mother board supports 4GB so I have 2x1GB can I buy anothe 2x512mb fot it?

3)Also if i buy 1x1gb now and later on buy another 1gb will those two then work as dual channel?

james.miller · 2 Feb 2006 at 16:55

well how much ram do you want? you really dont need more than 2gb unless you want to be photoshopping 24/7

if you dont then your 2gb kit is fine.

i cant tell yuo for certin that your motherboard will run 3gb. i know a lot of a64boards dont like running 3 sticks of ram. 2x1gb and 2x512 will work, but it means running a memory timing of 2T rather than 1T, which will hurt your performance somewhat.

Best advice is to stay with 2x1gb and clock the nuts off it