Dual channel memory understanding

[sector2814]

Ive been searching for hours to understand this subject and i thought whats better than joining a forum to get help and talked through it. im getting into the computer world by building my first computer, i have a case and motherboard/cpu already bought for it and now i find myself looking at memory.

Motherboard/cpu: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7104081&CatId=4721

i found this particular motherboard in a barebones kit and looked to see what memory they suggested to pair with it

memory: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7023168

so questions that i have are, is dual channel memory just the setup that you run (pairing it in certain memory slots on the mobo) or is it an actual type of memory, how can you tell if you motherboard supports single, dual or triple channel, if your able to how would you set it up on the motherboard and why does the memory above specs say "single channel" but i can only find it in the dual channel memory section on the left of the page.

any help on this subject will be greatly appreciated!! thanks guys

 

[salvage-this]

Dual channel is a configuration on the motherboard. If you have both of the slots for RAM populated, your motherboard will run the ram in dual channel. If not it will just use that one stick.

If you can order from newegg here is a great deal on 1333 CAS 7 ram that will work with your motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276

 

[sector2814]

that looks like a steal compared to tigerdirect, so the motherboard is dual channel capable, how did you know? is it something in the specs that tells you?

 

[salvage-this]

Well I found your motherboard on Newegg and in the specs it said that it supported dual channel

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131664

Pretty much everything runs in dual channel. I think i7's on the 1366 platform are the only exception for regular users since they use triple channel.

Another way to look if you do not have a specs sheet in front of you is the colors of the slots. Most of the boards today are color coordinated to show what slots are linked in dual or triple channel.

I hope that explains it a bit better. :good:

 

[linkin]

Basically, having memory in dual channel doubles memory bandwidth over single channel, hence dual channel. Fast CPU's need more memory bandwidth otherwise it becomes a bottleneck to the system.

Triple channel memory has 3 times as much bandwidth compared to single channel.

New architectures from Intel and AMD are going to be using quad channel memory, though only for server-class CPU's and motherboards.

 

[sector2814]

awesome! that cleared a whole bunch of things up, and thanks for the memory suggestion from new egg