4x1GB DDR3 = Triple channel?

[gaidensensei]

I figure this is a particular newbish question.
So 3x1gb can run in triple channel, but what does 4x1gb offer? Is this single or dual channel? Some searches on the net aren't yielding the answers I want to read.

Reason I ask is because I am in the process of constructing a 1366 system, the board has 6x DIMM slots ( http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=X58%20Extreme )

I checked some benchmarks and it seems the difference is very minor between dual and triple except for the fact that that DDR3/4 will eventually phase out DDR2.

 

[JayBlay77]

No it would just be running in dual channel for each pair of 1gb sticks (I believe). Running triple channel would be putting in multiples of 3, so 3 sticks of whatever size (1gb, 2gb, 4gb) or 6 sticks of whatever size.

The multiple channels for memory is for more throughput. However like you said, the gains of triple vs dual are very minimal in real-world applications. Going with the 4x1gb vs 3x1gb won't make that much difference in terms of triple vs double channel, but you'd obviously have more memory which I think would make a more significant difference.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Here's a short article on dual vs triple channel memory on an i7 system - http://www.overclock.net/intel-memory/681697-truth-about-i7-1366-memory-both.html

 

[Anubis]

No it would just be running in dual channel for each pair of 1gb sticks (I believe). Running triple channel would be putting in multiples of 3, so 3 sticks of whatever size (1gb, 2gb, 4gb) or 6 sticks of whatever size.

while you are basically correct some mobos will run 4 sticks in tri channel. My gigabyte will, i have no idea how it works or what its doing but in he user manual it has options for using tri channel with 3 dims or 4 dims

 

[JayBlay77]

while you are basically correct some mobos will run 4 sticks in tri channel. My gigabyte will, i have no idea how it works or what its doing but in he user manual it has options for using tri channel with 3 dims or 4 dims

Good to know.

 

[n7]

You can orient the DIMMs in slots 1,2,3,4 for dual channel, or 1,3,5,2 for triple channel.
It's still triple channel; the fourth DIMM is just shared bandwidth, which results in a very minor synthetic benchmark drop.

I run triple channel w/ 4x2 DIMMs & have not found it to be detrimental whatsoever, even for synthetic benching.

 

[gaidensensei]

Nice info, thanks for sharing guys. So for someone who only uses 4 or 6gb maximum, for 6 slots, seems like 1gb sticks are the better route to go? Seems plausible because you can get single gb sticks cheaper. Plus you inadvertently get triple channel to boot however insignificant it is?

Seems really plausible. I also read some tidbit regarding the nature of 1gb sticks working better with 'bursting', whatever it implied versus sticks with more mem on them (2,4gb)