Difference between Dual-Channel and "Normal" Ram?

[Bleeder]

Im just wondering what the difference is, because i need to buy some ram so i can finish my new pc. I'm gonna be using the pc primarily for playing games and making music, and my choice is wether to get 3 Kingston 512mb pc3200 for $375, or a 1024mb (2x512) Kingston HyperX kit for $380. Any help?

 

[Bleeder]

pretty please?

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, as I understand it, dual channel capability means that your motherboard can access two sticks of RAM at the same time, instead of one at a time, thereby raising RAM performance. Your MB has to be able to go dual channel, though.

Well, that's how I understand it, anyway...

 

[Meteor_of_War]

Aslong as you have a motherboard that supports dual-channel RAM and you're using more than one stick of RAM you can run in dual-channel. So (given that your mobo supports it) either one of your RAM choices will allow you to utilize dual-channel.

Besides that, running in dual-channel will give you a minimal performace increase.

 

[Bleeder]

Actually, if i got a third stick it automatically disables the dual channel. I'm just wondering which would give me more bang for my buck.

 

[Asus]

Do not get 3 sticks of 512mb because:
1) no dual channel.
some systems thrive on it and need it for top performance (P4) while it offers others a nice boost (Athlon)
2) more than 4 banks of ram will slow your system down (2x512=4banks)
Link

 

[RandomPING]

I read that if you have two of the exact same types of ram, same speeds and company, you can effectively make them dual channeled, is this true?

 

[jonbob]

I believe so, I discovered Dual-Channel by accident when I took out a faulty stick of samsung RAM, leaving two identical PC2700 TwinMOS sticks there. Sure I only have 1Gig now, but it's not like I needed the other 0.5 anyway...

 

[Bleeder]

ok i have a question asus......are they saying on that link that having 2 pairs of dual channel might be slower than one?

btw my specs for the rest are:
Asus P4P800 Deluxe Mobo
P4 2.6c HT
9800pro 128mb
Western Digital 10000 rpm 36gig SATA

i just have to pick up the hard drive and the ram and i'm done

RandomPing -yes that is true.

 

[Asus]

More than 4 banks period. Banks are not physical sticks of memory but how the memory is grouped on a or across multiple chips.

Long ago when RAM sticks came in very small sizes, there may only be half a bank on a stick and there may have been up to 4 sticks in a PC just to get a bank of ram (need at least 1 bank to run a PC).
Today, a 512mb stick has 2 banks. Go figure.

Doesn't matter if it's dual channel or not for the latency issue on P4s and speed issue on Athlon XP/64's unless they use buffered memory (Opteron/A64 FX 51/Xeons).