512 meg DDR --One stick or two sticks?

[Kung Lau]

Ok, I think I will settle on high quality ram (Corsair XMS, Muskin, Samsung or the like...)
I haven't seen any information about the speed differences of using dual sticks vs single stick.

Anyone know how much of a performance difference I would gain using 2x256 matched hi quality sticks
vs 1x512 hi quality stick? This would be for overclocking, of course


Thanks

 

[CraigRT]

I'd go with a 512.
you know you're gonna wanna get a gig later... and with 2x256 sticks already... makes it harder.
I went with 2x256's just cause they were so damn expensive, and i wanted to run dual DDR... but if i had the money, i would have gotten 2x512's (but it's PC3500 so it's sickly expensive)

 

[TerryMathews]

Two sticks of DDR are inherently less stable than one; this can be easily overcome if your board supports adjusting Vmem; most do.

Go with the one 512MB stick; get two if you can afford it. Memory prices have nowhere to go but up.

 

[eklass]

at current prices, definately go for 1 stick of 512

edit: i need a goddamn auto-spellcheck

 

[MatthewF01]

reduced latency problems with one stick as opposed to two, but it depends on your motherboard.


im running an Nforce2 board, and RIGHT NOW im only utilizing single-channel DDR with some Corsair 3200 512mb.
So later down the line I can either buy another 512 or 2x 256 and be set for dual-chann.


Otherwise go with a single larger stick.

 

[SickBeast]

one stick.

 

[DRIFTmode]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
one stick.

yup. couldnt have said it any better myself

...UNLESS , you want a dual channel DDR setup.. if u know your motherboard has it, go for the 256x2

 

[bgeh]

'd go with one stick

 

[MrEgo]

With that extra ~$150 dollars that you will save on NOT getting the 512MB stick, you could do SO MUCH other stuff to your computer. Instead of getting a GF4 TI4600, you could get a Radeon 9800Pro... or get a 2nd hard drive and put it in Raid 0.. or buy a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum card.. buy a sweet looking case.. or buy a MUCH better processor.. not to mention how many pornos you could buy with that money.

 

[MadTom]

No Dual DDR - one stick
Dual DDR - two sticks

 

[HarryAngel]

Originally posted by: Kung Lau
Ok, I think I will settle on high quality ram (Corsair XMS, Muskin, Samsung or the like...)
I haven't seen any information about the speed differences of using dual sticks vs single stick.

Anyone know how much of a performance difference I would gain using 2x256 matched hi quality sticks
vs 1x512 hi quality stick? This would be for overclocking, of course


Thanks

samsung ram is perhaps not the best in terms of overclocking, the yield at low cas is not very good (infact the yield is not good at all). Samsung made good mem sticks before specially at ddr266 but at higher ddr333 or higher you will be better of with Corsair XMS or Geil!

 

[Kung Lau]

Ok, thanks for the info.

I went ahead and ordered the CMX512-3200C2PT .

Was hoping to have a complete kit with my 8RDA+ and memory to start o/cing this weekend, but I guess it'll have to wait til next week.

I really wanted more than 512meg, but for now will settle for quality vs quantity.

 

[Rio Rebel]

I've heard a lot of people say to get two sticks if you have dual channel ddr. But the reviews I've read indicate that dual channel ddr only shows a significant gain if you're using the integrated graphics (IGP), which of course means less than top of the line graphics performance. So is it really worth buying two sticks to run dual ddr if you're using an AGP card?

By the way, I'm using dual channel ddr (2x 256) in an nForce2 board with a GF4 4400, so this is not said out of bias. I just don't know what you really gain by using dual channel ddr if you're not using the IGP.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I just don't know what you really gain by using dual channel ddr if you're not using the IGP.

You're right of course and I'm just nit picking here but this is my take on it. Looking at Evan's review of the giga KT400A and this quote from the final words

Performance wise, the lag in the 7VAXP-A Ultra's High-End Workstation scores versus dual channel nForce2 is quite large (in all 6 SPECviewperf scenarios dual channel nForce2 averages about a 10% lead over the 7VAXP-A Ultra); but besides the uncompetitive SPECviewperf scores, the 7VAXP-A Ultra is able to keep fairly close to dual and single channel nForce2 in gaming, office, and MPEG-4 encoding situations. In fact, in 4 out of 6 SPECviewperf scenarios the 7VAXP-A Ultra manages to outperform single channel nForce2.

It becomes obvious that there are apps where the Nforce2 DC-DDR is useful and that the KT400A can hang right with the NF2 overall in single channel mode which I'm not havin' none of! If DC mode will keep the NF2 ahead of KT400A then that's good enough for me

 

[tranceport]

I bought a single stick.

Just for the fact that I can have more ram with less space.

 

[aldamon]

Can anybody post some comparisons of DC vs SC at ~ 200 FSB?

Reviews have shown that dual channel mode offers very little performance increase at standard FSBs (266 and 333). I'd estimate that the even modest increases shown by the reviewers would DECREASE if they bothered to increase their FSBs to the 400 MHz level. The Athlon can only use so much bandwidth and overclocking your RAM and FSB synchronously to ultra-high FSBs would saturate it like crazy. I think dual-channel technology was designed for OEMs to get the most performance out of cheap PC2100 (in DC mode), and NOT for enthusiasts.

 

[Paveslave]

2 sticks of DDR are better than 1, and 4 sticks are just plain silly..... but hey, it works great, lol

 

[brigden]

I'm currently running dual channel on my 8RDA+. I have two sticks of 256 PC2100. I have the option to grab a single stick of 512 PC2700. What should I do?

Run the faster PC2700 asynchronously to my CPU, an 1800+, or stick with the two sticks of PC2100 for the dual channel factor?

 

[MatthewF01]

brigden, if you could take the 2700 and get your CPU to 333fsb, youd be a made man!

What type of 1800+ is it?

I have a tbredA 1800+ and im running at 216*8.5 on my Chaintech 7NJS Nforce2 mobo with Corsair 3200 512Mb


Single channel 2700 running AT 333 will perform BETTER than Dual-chan. 2100.
Single channel 2700 running 333 while cpu is 266 will be bad times


It depends on how much you can overclock the 1800+, really.

Reply with that information and it will be easier to tell you what to do.

 

[brigden]

Thanks for the reply. The CPU is a Tbred A. I really don't fancy overclocking...

 

[yodayoda]

Originally posted by: brigden
I'm currently running dual channel on my 8RDA+. I have two sticks of 256 PC2100. I have the option to grab a single stick of 512 PC2700. What should I do?

Run the faster PC2700 asynchronously to my CPU, an 1800+, or stick with the two sticks of PC2100 for the dual channel factor?

my PC2100 crucial ram is running at PC27000 speeds and aggresive timings just fine. and who really needs more than 512MB of RAM anyways? hehehe