dual architecture vs 3 sticks

S

SteveThePirate

New Member
I have come to understand that if you have a motherboard that supports dual architecture then you can put two very similar(preferably identical) sticks of ram together and they work very well?

first, what are the true benefits of that set up?

this leads to my second question.

if you have 3 sticks of ram in your computer, it will turn off this dual architecture setup

second, would it not be better to have 3 sticks of ram w/o the dual architecture? if not then why?

thanks!
 
Dual channel is what you are referring to. I've tried this in my system using the window's 7 experience index as my benchmark. With 2X1gb (when I had ddr2-1066 ram) it would score a 6.9 in the ram calculations per second. I added a 3rd stick of identical ram, and even though now I have 3gb instead of 2, calculations per second scored a 5.8. By adding a third stick it uses single channel memory on all 3. Now when I had all four sticks in, having 2 dual channels, it scored a 7.3.
 
Dual channel is much better than single channel, as it provides two pathways to the memory controller over a single path, hence the name dual channel. In essence, your better off keeping dual channel than putting in another stick and dropping to single channel.
 
bomberboysk said:
dual channel is much better than single channel, as it provides two pathways to the memory controller over a single path, hence the name dual channel. In essence, your better off keeping dual channel than putting in another stick and dropping to single channel.
Click to expand...

+1
 
There is also the possibility of a mixed dual and single setup, depending on the board.

If I had 2GB and constantly used 3GB - with heavy use of the page file - then I would forget about dual channel.
 
I was just about to ask the same Q as the OP.. so what you are saying is that if my mobo has 4 slots, then i better off stay with 4 gigs than have 6 gigs?
 
Last edited:
mazinya said:
I was just about to ask the same Q as the OP.. so what you are saying is that if my mobo has 4 slots, then i better off stay with 4 gigs than have 6 gigs?
Click to expand...

In what way?

2x2GB or 4x1GB

Then 2x2 and 1x1?

It would be better to have 6gb there
 
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