RAM- bigger or smaller modules better?

[xerocool]

Title says it all, if scalability is not an issue, i.e. definitely staying at 2GB and not going onto 3 or 4GB of ram, which is the better setup? (cost, performance, etc.)

 

[Cerb]

Reliability: 2x1GB
Performance: N/A

Reliability: Many boards can't do 200MHz+ with 2 or more sticks per channel. Most can do 2 sticks, but sometimes you can't do the tight timings. If it's dual-channel, you're well off, as 4x512 is really 2x512 and 2x512. But then you've got nothing left. Registered RAM helps here, but I can't find a single modern consumer board with support for it. There are even boards w/ ECC support, but not registered RAM.

Performance: For overclocking, 2 sticks will likely be best, for a simple reason: each stick you add could bring your max speed down. Your max is the slowest maximum of all chips on all the sticks. However, if you're not going too far over the stated speed, then it shouldn't matter. If you aren't overclocking, it won't make a bit of difference.

 

[Arcanedeath]

Unless you have a server board or certian brands of Intel I865, I875 I915 or I925 based boards you will not be able to run at DDR400 / PC3200 w/ 4 Dual sided dimms or you will have to run at reduced timings, we need to know what kind of motherboard you are using before we can answer this question accuratly. Hope this help...

 

[caz67]

2x1Gb

 

[xerocool]

Originally posted by: Arcanedeath
Unless you have a server board or certian brands of Intel I865, I875 I915 or I925 based boards you will not be able to run at DDR400 / PC3200 w/ 4 Dual sided dimms or you will have to run at reduced timings, we need to know what kind of motherboard you are using before we can answer this question accuratly. Hope this help...

well my current mobo is an ic7-g... so it's an intel 865 chipset. but i actually meant the question as more of a theorhetical Q, like all else being equal and without any hardware limitations (like chipsets).

so basically just assume everything else is like the best (and most capable) mobo, video card, cpu, etc... which would work better in that system 4x 512's or 2x 1gig's?