2 gb or 3 gb dual channel

[spacecowboy9891]

I originally had 1 gb and when I decided to upgrade my system I was going to go with 2 but the price of ddr2 was so cheap I decided to get a 2gb package. My concern is can I run dual channel mode with 3 gb or should I run only 2 and then when I buy another stick just have 4.
Here is the ram. I am running 4-4-4-12 now on my single stick and will this after a slight bump in voltage. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820145034

 

[badnewcastle]

You can run dual channel with 3 gigs but you need 2 x 1gb sticks with 2 x 512mb sticks... so your 1 gb with the 2 x 1 gb will not run in dual or all 3 gigs at least, I don't know if the 2 will if they are in the right spots. Just buy another stick now and all 4 will run in dual channel... <- that's if dual channel is that important to you.

 

[spacecowboy9891]

See that is my problem though. I have 3 single sticks.

 

[error8]

Well........just get another one and you will have 4 gigs on dual channel.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: spacecowboy9891
See that is my problem though. I have 3 single sticks.

Or, just use the 2 x 1gb as that is a huge increase in memory over what you have now. All in all you are better off anyway not mixing different sizes/densities/types of memory, especially on dual channel MOBOs. In most cases it will work but some get instability or a no boot situation when mixing.

 

[spacecowboy9891]

Ok, well I have three identical sticks and I was just wondering how it allocated the third stick in the memory.

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: spacecowboy9891
Ok, well I have three identical sticks and I was just wondering how it allocated the third stick in the memory.

The documentation for my Motherboard actually says that it may not boot with 3 sticks of ram. It is really a crap shoot, but if it does boot, it will run in single channel mode.

 

[spacecowboy9891]

Ok, well I guess I will try with both and see which one preformes better. I don't know if less dual channel or more single is better.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: spacecowboy9891
Ok, well I guess I will try with both and see which one preformes better. I don't know if less dual channel or more single is better.

It will really depend on what you are doing. If you are playing a game or other tasks with lots of random reads and 2gb is enough, then dual channel will be faster. However, if you are working with huge uncompressed files in Photoshop and the system needs more than 2gb total memory to reduce page file activity, then the 3 x 1gb in single channel will probably be "better". Your individual needs here are the key. For "most" things you will do, 2 x 1gb in dual channel will probably feel snappier and actually be faster.

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard

Originally posted by: spacecowboy9891
Ok, well I guess I will try with both and see which one preformes better. I don't know if less dual channel or more single is better.

It will really depend on what you are doing. If you are playing a game or other tasks with lots of random reads and 2gb is enough, then dual channel will be faster. However, if you are working with huge uncompressed files in Photoshop and the system needs more than 2gb total memory to reduce page file activity, then the 3 x 1gb in single channel will probably be "better". Your individual needs here are the key. For "most" things you will do, 2 x 1gb in dual channel will probably feel snappier and actually be faster.

if he was that concerned, he'd just forget about this whole thing and run on 4 gigs on another mobo.

2GB and 3GB, real world performance on typical computing, you're not going to notice jack.

 

[spacecowboy9891]

Ok, so I guess I will just do 2 gigs of dual channel and then later on get full 4 dual channel. Thanks

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: spacecowboy9891
Ok, so I guess I will just do 2 gigs of dual channel and then later on get full 4 dual channel. Thanks

Best choice.

 

[sutahz]

Run 3GB single channel. Dual ch. memory only benefits integrated video really, even back in the XP/P4 days. I cant say if you'll see a diff between 2GB and 3GB as fire400 has stated, but you bought the ram so use it. Or heck, ram is so easy to install/uninstall. Run your fav game/program/benchmark and see the difference. Show yourself the pro's/con's to your proposed configurations. You may have some fun, you may learn something.
It sounds to me, that everyone who has replied so far would agree w/ the statement "Run your ram at the highest speed and tightest timings you can" when in fact, doing that gains you nothing (really) in real world situations. Run your ram in sync w/ the FSB and set your timings to 5.5.5.18 and just roll w/ it. You wont have to test for stability or any of that headache.

 

[Mondoman]

Go with the 3GB. If your MB has an Intel chipset, it will automatically run the first (paired) 2GB in dual-channel mode and only the last (unpaired) 1GB in single-channel mode, so no worries there. Even if your chipset runs all 3GB in single-channel mode, sutahz is right that having the extra RAM will speed things up because it'll save some hard disk reading/writing, which is just ridiculously slow.

 

[spacecowboy9891]

Ok, cool I think that I will do exactly that sutahz. I will try it out with both and see if there is any real difference. And mondoman if that's true then I shouldn't have much to worry about then. lol I think the timing is 4-4-4-4-12 though, but it is running stable with a great oc now. Well have to see what happens. I will let you know though.