Dual channel question

[KenSr]

If I use all four memory slots will dual channel still work?

If I use three slots how will that effect dual channel operation?

Thank in advance
Ken

 

[dguy6789]

What mainboard are you using?

To use dual channel effectively, you should have an equal amount of ram in each channel. On a P4 board, there is 2 groups of 2 slots.

Say you have 1 512MB stick and 2 256MB sticks. Put the 512MB in the first set of slots, then on the next set of slots, put the 2 256MB sticks. Now you would have a GB of full dual channel as their is 512MB on each channel. yes 3 slots work. So do 4, just make sure you have equal amounts of ram in each channel.

 

[dc5]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
What mainboard are you using?

To use dual channel effectively, you should have an equal amount of ram in each channel. On a P4 board, there is 2 groups of 2 slots.

Say you have 1 512MB stick and 2 256MB sticks. Put the 512MB in the first set of slots, then on the next set of slots, put the 2 256MB sticks. Now you would have a GB of full dual channel as their is 512MB on each channel. yes 3 slots work. So do 4, just make sure you have equal amounts of ram in each channel.

i thought you needed a pair of the same exact ram. so in your scenerio you would need 2 512mb and 2 256mb, instead of only 1 512mb. correct me if im wrong.

 

[dguy6789]

they all need to be the same speed as each other as well. Say you were running an athlon xp 2800 with 333 fsb. You could have some pc3200 and some pc2700, but the 3200 would drop down to pc2700 speeds, but if you got an athlon xp 3200 with 400fsb, you would need some new memory as the pc2700 can not go to 400fsb speeds(pc3200).

you could do 2 512s and 2 256s.

Have a 512 and a 256 in channel one, and a 512 and a 256 in channel 2, that way you have 768MB of ram in each channel, totaling 1.5GB of ram.

 

[dc5]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
they all need to be the same speed as each other as well. Say you were running an athlon xp 2800 with 333 fsb. You could have some pc3200 and some pc2700, but the 3200 would drop down to pc2700 speeds, but if you got an athlon xp 3200 with 400fsb, you would need some new memory as the pc2700 can not go to 400fsb speeds(pc3200).

you could do 2 512s and 2 256s.

Have a 512 and a 256 in channel one, and a 512 and a 256 in channel 2, that way you have 768MB of ram in each channel, totaling 1.5GB of ram.

how would that be different from putting 2 512mb in chan. 1 and 2 256mb in chan. 2. i am pretty sure the pair of ram has to be the same size. meaning, 2 512 in one chan. and 2 256 in another chan.

 

[KenSr]

up for more input
All so far very helpful

 

[memories2002]

What if theres an a7n8x dlx, with 3 slots, and we put 2x256 in one and 512 in the third one?