DDR Dual Channel configurations?

[GenuineInfinity]

Hi. I currently have a P4 3.0Ghz system.

I'm still shopping for ram. I'm not an overclocker so generic ram is good enough for me. Are there any stable and reliable generic names i can trust? what about samsung?

Also, I am thinking of either getting 1 stick of DDR400 512mb or 2 x 256Mb DDR400. Would the 2x256 have a bit of a performance increase over the single stick?

also, lets say i go for 2x256 now putting each stick in each fo the memory banks and later i decide i want to get 2x256 or even 2x512 in the future. will the ram still be in dual channel mode?

eg.

Slots 1 and 2 = 256mb stick and a 512mb stick

Slots 3 and 4 = 256mb stick and a 512mb stick

 

[GenuineInfinity]

Sorry i meant, if i had 2x256mb of ram now and i decided in the future if i wanted another 2x256 or 2x512, whether the ram would still be in dual channel

Chances are if i did get another stick of 2x256 for a total of 4x256 with all slots populated i'd still be in dual channel. (i'm assuming). Do motherboards nowadays support fully populated ram slots?

ok but ya, if i decided lets say to get a 2x512 in the future and had in each bay a 256 and a 512 together and in the 2nd bay the other 256 and 512 sticks, even though they are different sizes, will they still be in dual channel mode? Assuming all Ram sticks are DDR400.

 

[SoSolid]

Most stable memory I worked with here in The Netherlands is with no doubt Dane-Elec. But also very good memory modules are being sold by Corsair, TwinMos and Kingston.

If you are planning to use dual channel you have to fill the two memory slots (1 and 3) with equal size megabytes of ddr. Correct me If I'm wrong but from logical point of view if you want to fill up all the slots (thus including 2 and 4) they have to be also equal size megabytes of ddr. Otherwise it couldn't optimize. But I don't know for sure about that, going to try it at work, interesting to know actually

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: SoSolid
Most stable memory I worked with here in The Netherlands is with no doubt Dane-Elec. But also very good memory modules are being sold by Corsair, TwinMos and Kingston.

If you are planning to use dual channel you have to fill the two memory slots (1 and 3) with equal size megabytes of ddr. Correct me If I'm wrong but from logical point of view if you want to fill up all the slots (thus including 2 and 4) they have to be also equal size megabytes of ddr. Otherwise it couldn't optimize. But I don't know for sure about that, going to try it at work, interesting to know actually

I agree with you there, if you were to fill up all 4 slots, I would want them to be all equal sized.

However, there is no point in buying 4 RAM sticks when you can just get 2 to do the same job, and have future upgradeability to boot . If you're going for dual channel DDR, there's only two real alternatives:

2 X 256 MB for 512MB total or:
2 X 512MB for 1 GB total.

It's up to the buyer to decide if he really needs a gig or not .

 

[GenuineInfinity]

What happens if you have all your slots populated yet the ram sticks are different?

eg. lets say you have high end ram in slots 1 and 3 and generic ram in slots 2 and 4? will dual channel still be in effect? It'd just go at the slower timings of the slower generic ram right?

 

[spartacuskzm]

Funny you should mention the Samsung - I just bought 2x512 from the thread here. I haven't received it yet, but a number of people recommended it. I don't exactly understand how it works, but it's Samsung Buffalo PC3200 - or Buffalo Samsung. Will be used with an INTCD865PERLK Mobo.

 

[SoSolid]

Originally posted by: GenuineInfinity
What happens if you have all your slots populated yet the ram sticks are different?

eg. lets say you have high end ram in slots 1 and 3 and generic ram in slots 2 and 4? will dual channel still be in effect? It'd just go at the slower timings of the slower generic ram right?

They all have to be the same to keep dual channel working. If one of the dimm's is less in size or (more important) mhz than the rest will adept to the most weakest dimm what means they will run at a lower mhz speed if one of the dimms is for example 333mhz and dual channel requires 400mhz dimms all equal size.