AMD cpu's and ram???

[slick8]

Is it true that AMD cpu's dont handle 2 sticks of ram very well, how much better will games play with 1 stick of 2gb ram as opposed to 2 sicks of 1 gb?

 

[Sylvanas]

No difference between 2x1gb and 1x2gb (provided they were obviously same speed/timings), AMD CPU's handle that just fine.

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
No difference between 2x1gb and 1x2gb (provided they were obviously same speed/timings), AMD CPU's handle that just fine.

Won't 2 x 1gig run in dual chanel? ...and be faster than 1 x 2gig?

 

[brawleyman]

Tis true. I don't know exactly what the performance difference is, but running dual channel with 2 identical sticks will run slightly faster than 1 stick. It is like comparing a single core processor to a dual core processor...you can get stuff done 1 thing at a time, or you can multitask with 2 or more at once.

 

[Sylvanas]

Ah yes forgot about dual channel, it would enable a 128bit memory width opposed to a 64bit memory width which would in essence, allow more things to be done at once, however I couldn't imagine real world gains to be anything spectacular, maybe a decent increase on games.

 

[QuixoticOne]

I've got an socket 754 AMD CPU with *3* sticks DDR,
and a Socket 939 AMD CPU with 4 sticks DDR.

They both run fine and OC moderately.

Yeah you typically run the ram at a slightly lower command rate / clock speed
when you have more than 2 sticks, but the GAIN in having more memory total
and (for AM2 socket or socket 939) the GAIN in DUAL CHANNEL mode offsets the
slow-down and you come out way ahead.

I'd go for 2x2GB sticks today if you have AM2 using DDR2, or go with the 2nd DDR
stick without regrets if that's what you use.