Question abou Dual Channel RAM abilities

Dynamix3D

Senior member
Oct 31, 2000
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I am considering purchasing this new OCZ Platinum EB ram, but I want 2 sticks (2GB) in Dual Channel form. I was searching Atacom.com which seems to have the cheapest price. But my question is. I noticed that a single stick is $146, and the dual channel set is $308. I wanted to know if I bought two individual sticks and put them together in the dual channel slot on my mobo, would that give me a dual channel setup? Or do I specificially have to purchase the dual channel kit?

Thanks
 

Buck Naked

Senior member
Jun 29, 2005
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:eek: my bad.

Then I believe the answer to the question is, yes
I haven't tried it myself, but I read somewhere people had done that.
Try asking these guys
 

stevty2889

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2003
7,036
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YOu don't have to buy a dual channel kit, to run dual channel, thats pretty much just a marketing gimick. Dual channel is a property of the memory controller, not the ram itself. So if you were to get 2 1gb sticks of the same ram seperatly, it would run dual channel no problem. I had a gigabyte 8IK1100 with my northwood that had 6 ram slots. I had 3 differant brands of ram in there and ran dual channel. I had 2x256mb sticks of crucial PC2100, 2x256mb of centon PC2100, and 2x256mb sticks of kingmax PC3500.
 

Aquila76

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: stevty2889
YOu don't have to buy a dual channel kit, to run dual channel, thats pretty much just a marketing gimick. Dual channel is a property of the memory controller, not the ram itself. So if you were to get 2 1gb sticks of the same ram seperatly, it would run dual channel no problem. I had a gigabyte 8IK1100 with my northwood that had 6 ram slots. I had 3 differant brands of ram in there and ran dual channel. I had 2x256mb sticks of crucial PC2100, 2x256mb of centon PC2100, and 2x256mb sticks of kingmax PC3500.

stevty2889 is totally right. The dual channel kits just make it easier to get both sticks in one package (and are usually cheaper, but YMMV). Some of the higher quality companies like OCZ and Corsair do actually test the memory in a dual channel configuration prior to shipping to resellers, but as long as the memory is functional and matches the other stick specwise, you're fine buying two singles.
 

Spike

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2001
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Originally posted by: stevty2889
YOu don't have to buy a dual channel kit, to run dual channel, thats pretty much just a marketing gimick. Dual channel is a property of the memory controller, not the ram itself. So if you were to get 2 1gb sticks of the same ram seperatly, it would run dual channel no problem. I had a gigabyte 8IK1100 with my northwood that had 6 ram slots. I had 3 differant brands of ram in there and ran dual channel. I had 2x256mb sticks of crucial PC2100, 2x256mb of centon PC2100, and 2x256mb sticks of kingmax PC3500.

The one benefit of a dual channel pack is that the two sticks are usually tested together to ensure they work side by side. If you buy two seperate sticks there is a small chance that even though they are the "same" they might not play nicely together in dual channel.

IMO it's not worth alot of extra money for that assurance but if the price is the same then why not.

-spike

Originally posted by: Aquila76
stevty2889 is totally right. The dual channel kits just make it easier to get both sticks in one package (and are usually cheaper, but YMMV). Some of the higher quality companies like OCZ and Corsair do actually test the memory in a dual channel configuration prior to shipping to resellers, but as long as the memory is functional and matches the other stick specwise, you're fine buying two singles.

Darn you, beat my post by a few min, I got distracted when writing it so I missed that you had posted. Ah well...