dual channel ram

[Gajdycz]

i have one stick of 512 corsair ram, and im going otbuy another stick soon. my mobo says dual channel capable, and what does that mean?

 

[lePobz]

it means it can control each dimm independantly, effectively doubling the memory bandwidth available... you should make sure the other stick you buy is the same as the one you have (same timings, same speed, etc)

 

[Gajdycz]

yeah it is

 

[bosox188]

How much better is running in dual channel mode? I have one stick of 256 now, and I want 512. In cpu-z it says its a Micron Technology DDR-SDRAM PC2100-256 MB. Would getting an identical stick be better than just one 512 stick? I just don't know if I can find an identical one since the 256 came with the Dell, could be their own version of it or something, like the motherboard.

 

[Pressure]

^ One reason you never buy a Dell .

 

[bosox188]

I know, but does the other stick of 256mb HAVE to be made by the same manufacturer, or is it ok as long as it's pc2100 like what I have now? And if I got an identical stick of 256 to make dual channel 512, would that be better than getting a 512 stick for a total of 768 without the dual channel?

 

[SidewinderX]

it doesn't have to be made by the same manufacturer.


If you have an Athlon XP, running in dual channel mode won't give you that much of a performace increase.... if you have a p4C (800mhz fsb) you'll see a much larger increase.

 

[bosox188]

I have a P4B (2.2ghz 400mhz fsb) so would I be better off getting a stick of 512 for 768 without dual channel?

 

[Gajdycz]

but how do i make it dual channel?

 

[Azrael.]

I heard somewhere that you either put your ram into slots 1&3 or 2&4 to run dual channel. Is that true?