A couple RAM questions.

spynoodle

spynoodle

Active Member
I've been wondering a bit about RAM lately, and I just have a few questions:
1. Can you have two different channels of memory running at different speeds?
2. If you have two modules of memory that aren't running in dual channel, and one's slower than the other, will it slow the faster module down?
3. I read a bit about dual channel, and it seems like it theoretically "doubles" the speed of RAM, removing a CPU bottleneck having to do with the difference between its FSB and the RAM's speed. I've also read that you should buy RAM a bit under a processor's FSB speed. WTF??
4. When a Pentium 4's FSB is quad-pumped, does RAM need to surpass the total FSB speed (eg. 800MHz) to not produce a bottleneck, or the speed split in four (eg. 200MHz)?
 
1. Can you have two different channels of memory running at different speeds? If you mean dual channel and triple channel together, no. Or if you mean 800Mhz ram and 600Mhz ram together, the higher one will downclock to 600Mhz

2. If you have two modules of memory that aren't running in dual channel, and one's slower than the other, will it slow the faster module down? Yes, it will slow down so the speeds are equal

Can't help you with the other two questions though, sorry :P
 
The Chad said:
1. Can you have two different channels of memory running at different speeds? If you mean dual channel and triple channel together, no. Or if you mean 800Mhz ram and 600Mhz ram together, the higher one will downclock to 600Mhz

2. If you have two modules of memory that aren't running in dual channel, and one's slower than the other, will it slow the faster module down? Yes, it will slow down so the speeds are equal

Can't help you with the other two questions though, sorry :P
Click to expand...
Thanks for the answer on question 2! With question 1, though, I meant if you were running 4 modules of memory in dual-channel, could two of the modules (channel a) be one speed and the other two (channel b) be a different speed?
 
spynoodle said:
Thanks for the answer on question 2! With question 1, though, I meant if you were running 4 modules of memory in dual-channel, could two of the modules (channel a) be one speed and the other two (channel b) be a different speed?
Click to expand...

The memory will run at the speed of the slowest module.
 
Bodaggit23 said:
The memory will run at the speed of the slowest module.
Click to expand...
Thanks bodaggit! I was wondering because of the fact that I have 4 modules in dual-channel. One pair is 533MHz, the other is 400MHz. Now I just have to know if it's going to bottleneck my Pentium 4, especially overclocked.
 
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