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Dual vs Single Channel Memory on AM2

C

CupCak3

Golden Member
I'm planning on building a couple of new folding machine with the new processor price drops. To save on money I would like to buy two dual channel kits and then split the kits between the systems. How drastically will this change the perfomance?


Thanks!
 
It really depends on how much F@H depends on memory bandwidth. I believe that it's mainly based on the CPU, not memory bandwidth, so as long as you have enough RAM (512MB or more) you should be fine.

EDIT: A dual core CPU will be more dependant on memory bandwidth, so in that case you may want to go for dual channel. Then again, single channel DDR2 800 will be about the same as dual channel DDR2 400, so it probably won't matter much either way.
 
Man I wish I had the money to drop building systems JUST to sit there not doing anything in particular. Sure Folding@Home is a worthwhile endeavor, but for most people only as a hobby, a side-application for a system they're already using.

Anyway, the DC forum would probably be the best place to get information, but more than likely memory performance is of minimal importance compared to CPU.
 
Originally posted by: MDE
It really depends on how much F@H depends on memory bandwidth. I believe that it's mainly based on the CPU, not memory bandwidth, so as long as you have enough RAM (512MB or more) you should be fine.

EDIT: A dual core CPU will be more dependant on memory bandwidth, so in that case you may want to go for dual channel. Then again, single channel DDR2 800 will be about the same as dual channel DDR2 400, so it probably won't matter much either way.
Click to expand...

good point w/ the memory bandwidt.

any other thoughts?
 
Originally posted by: CupCak3
I'm planning on building a couple of new folding machine with the new processor price drops. To save on money I would like to buy two dual channel kits and then split the kits between the systems. How drastically will this change the perfomance?


Thanks!
Click to expand...

err, whats the problem, if you are buying 2 dual channel kits, for 2 machines, you will have 4 sticks of ram, and run dual channel in both machines?? 😕
 
Originally posted by: stevty2889
Originally posted by: CupCak3
I'm planning on building a couple of new folding machine with the new processor price drops. To save on money I would like to buy two dual channel kits and then split the kits between the systems. How drastically will this change the perfomance?


Thanks!
Click to expand...

err, whats the problem, if you are buying 2 dual channel kits, for 2 machines, you will have 4 sticks of ram, and run dual channel in both machines?? 😕
Click to expand...

wow... just wow...

I never said I was building two machines; I said I would building a COUPLE which does not always mean two.
 
Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
I never said I was building two machines; I said I would building a COUPLE which does not always mean two.
Click to expand...

Actually, couple does specifically mean 2. http://www.webster.com/dictionary/couple

"Few" can mean 2 or more, though in normal usage it refers to 3 or more, and at a personally defined point, we switch to "several".
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Exactly.

Couple is always 2. A couple isn't three people for instance.

A couples only party would not allow a threesome to turn up, although I'm sure this could be debated in ATOT.
 
Originally posted by: George Powell
Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
I never said I was building two machines; I said I would building a COUPLE which does not always mean two.
Click to expand...

Actually, couple does specifically mean 2. http://www.webster.com/dictionary/couple

"Few" can mean 2 or more, though in normal usage it refers to 3 or more, and at a personally defined point, we switch to "several".
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Couple is always 2. A couple isn't three people for instance.

A couples only party would not allow a threesome to turn up, although I'm sure this could be debated in ATOT.
Click to expand...

A 3-some showing up at a couples party could certainly liven things up though, so they'd be stupid to turn them away!
 
Let me tell you, you learn the difference between a couple, a few and several when you're married 😀 .

Big difference between, "Honey, I'm gonna go get a beer with the guys, be back in a couple of hours", to, "Honey, I'm gonna go get a beer with the guys, be back in several hours".
 
wish I had the cash to buy some real F@H computers. I do have my computer, my parent's, and the home file/web server folding. Then I have a crappy P3 700MHz folding too (slow thing) that is housed in a cardboard box since I had no case or money for one 😛

I'm working on patching together a duron 1.2GHz system but the mobo has some issues I believe, it randomly freezes up. PSU and CPU test out OK, RAM I'm not totally sure on but different ram didn't change anything. I have a celeron 1.5GHz emachines that needs a new mobo and PSU (power surge) but I don't have money to buy the stuff. College is expensive 🙁
 
Because somebody asked a question about your phrasing, and you said something that was wrong and were corrected, and a couple of responses were made that weren't immediately on-topic? You've got a lot to learn if you think THAT is what shows AT forums have gone downhill.
 
The speed or amount of RAM in your computer has very little impact on folding speed. its all about floating point power.
Im sure you going CD2 the giant L2 will take care of any ram speed issues.
even crunching away on a athlon XP with 384k of cache there is little ram activity (in the performance monitor)
 
Originally posted by: dave518
What is folding @ home?
Click to expand...

Distributed computing project (idea is that thousands of home PCs can do the same work as a couple of supercomputers), google it for more info.
 
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