memory question

bluedishwasher

bluedishwasher

New Member
which is better, having 4x 1GB, 2 pairs in dual channel or 4GB 2x 2GB, 1 pair in dual channel?
the latency timings and RAM speeds are identical on both options, which woiuld be faster?
 
As far as I know, it's always best to have a pair of RAM. So I think the 2x 2Gb modules would be best, though the performance difference still wouldn't be that great.
 
The difference is not seen performance wise but how data jumps from dimm to dimm on each channel with 4x1gb installed over the 2gb in one dimm for each channel. That brings up an old problem seen called "memory holes". The big difference other then that however is price! You can buy two pairs of 1gb dimms for less then a pair of 2gb dimms in most cases.
 
the price difference is around £30 but im getting paid in about a week so its not much of an issue cause im working just to buy the computer :) so 2x2gb would be better?
 
It works the same way that two 1gb dimms sees better long term results over four 512mb dimms. With the boards now seeing 16gb capacity while the OSs drag long behind the hardwares you will be slightly upgraded with the 2gb dimms. With a good pair of 1gb dimms seen here for $110US over the nearly $400- price seen on a pair of equivalent 2gb dimms I would say you are getting a better deal if the brand is good. I noticed Crucial in your sig showing that is one of the better brands to go with.
 
StrangleHold said:
Data doesnt jump from one stick to the other, in dual channel or not!
Click to expand...

If you understood how memory works then you would know that when one stick is filled with data the next in line is then utilized. This is where problems have been known to appear called memory holes. While this was seen mainly on older systems you never know especially with new programs coming out for Vista that something similar may be seen again.
 
Back to what you said thats not true, data does not jump from one stick to another! You really dont have any idea what Dual Channel means do you.
 
StrangleHold said:
Back to what you said thats not true, data does not jump from one stick to another! You really dont have any idea what Dual Channel means do you.
Click to expand...

There's dual channels as found on boards and then there's Double Data Rate referring to physical memory there. You seem to have those mixed up quite well. One partial description on what a memory hole is as follows.
Memory hole refers to a block of contiguous available memory. Information about free memory partitions or holes is maintained by the operating system. It can also refer to an area of physical address space with no actual memory; for example, the hole between 640K and 1M on PCs with 286 and above processors where memory mapped devices (most notably Video RAM) were located. Some PCs also had such a hole at 16MB.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole_(computer_science)

The same description is also seen at http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000933.htm This only refers to memory holes seen at certain places there. You would see this more with the older single channel boards where as one fills and the next takes over there were certain memory leaks or holes.
 
PC eye said:
There's dual channels as found on boards and then there's Double Data Rate referring to physical memory there. You seem to have those mixed up quite well. One partial description on what a memory hole is as follows.
Memory hole refers to a block of contiguous available memory. Information about free memory partitions or holes is maintained by the operating system. It can also refer to an area of physical address space with no actual memory; for example, the hole between 640K and 1M on PCs with 286 and above processors where memory mapped devices (most notably Video RAM) were located. Some PCs also had such a hole at 16MB.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole_(computer_science)

The same description is also seen at http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000933.htm This only refers to memory holes seen at certain places there. You would see this more with the older single channel boards where as one fills and the next takes over there were certain memory leaks or holes.
Click to expand...


You have no idea what your talking about do you, DDR and dual Channel has nothing to do with each other, I,m way-way past you! My god you give me links for wikipeda, I really think there your tech support, they have to be with some of the stupid crap you have said. I think in your mind you never made it past Socket A
 
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bluedishwasher said:
ok, i think i'll go with 2x2GB then
Click to expand...

If you decide to go into a 64bit version of Windows at some point(after Vista of course :P ) you will have the added capacity there. I was looking at a pair of 2gb performance dimms for the new build in progress until the price was seen at the few vendors carrying them. :eek:! Almost 3 times the price of a good pair of 1gb dimms? To finish the build on time I'll have to stay with the $140- seen on 2gb over the $350 seen for 4gb! ouch!
 
About the stick-jumping-argument. In dual channel the data is striped across the sticks, so you get contingious memory when you access both channels.

The same principle can be used when four sticks are installed. When the first pair is busy getting ready for more commands, the next pair can be addressed by the memory controller. This will spare come clock cycles

But I cannot se where the "memory holes" comes in, in this context
 
tyttebøvs said:
About the stick-jumping-argument. In dual channel the data is striped across the sticks, so you get contingious memory when you access both channels.

The same principle can be used when four sticks are installed. When the first pair is busy getting ready for more commands, the next pair can be addressed by the memory controller. This will spare come clock cycles

But I cannot se where the "memory holes" comes in, in this context
Click to expand...

Exactly;), as far as memory holes that really applies alot more to old sdram and before-old news
 
PC eye said:
While you might think that is old school since the term gaps is used more commonly for DDR2 memory. A good breakdown on DDR2 memory by Micron can be reviewed at http://download.micron.com/pdf/pubs/designline/dl3Q03.pdf

DDR2 does have it's own drawbacks over DDR1 type apparently as explained at http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1573&page=4
Click to expand...

Thats fine but since neither link says that data (jumps) from one stick to the other like you said or about memory holes it does not prove anything
 
The article seen at the time some time back was regarding DDR memory there will full illustrations provided along with the explaination. That had more to do with running several smaller dimms to reach a total rather then going for fewer larger sized dimms there.
 
When I can relocate the article then make the assessment then. In addtion to that however there are other article describing problems seen when running multiple dimms.
SUMMARY 4/4/02: Interference patterns with multiple DDR modules may appear in just about any motherboard. http://www.overclockers.com/articles561/

One discussion elsewhere mentions a performance loss seen when ocing memory with 4 dimms over two larger ones referring to DDR2 memory. The loss was seen with 4 1gb dimms over 2 2gb dimms. But that was a thread found somewhere else there. http://forums.storagereview.net/index.php?showtopic=25528&st=0&p=243157&#entry243157
 
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