Windows Experience Index Score for Hard Disk

[Laudanum]

Almost all motherboards setup for Triple Channel RAM have 6 slots, yes.

Currently, only motherboards with the Intel X58 chipset have triple channel RAM. (Core i7 9XX series)

Some X58 boards have less or more slots, run in a slightly different configuration. I've seen Intel and Gigabyte brand X58 boards that have only 4 slots, but they still run in Triple Channel.

Ok, thanks for helping me understand some of this stuff. If I have the basics down ... the machine cannot run in single channel and dual channel at the same time. So for most systems, it either runs in single or dual depending on the memory configuration. But it cant run in both at the same time. Right?
I have read that dual is faster but it is probably not noticeable for most applications. Is that also right? And finally ... Is it better to have a little more memory running single channel or a little less running dual? For example, 4 gigs running dual or 6 gigs running single? I asssume that, generally speaking, more memory running single channel usually would be an advantage over less memory running dual. But what is actually better?

 

[Bodaggit23]

Memory will only run in single, dual, or triple.
The memory controller will not pick and choose which sticks to run at which rate.

I would recommend running the board at optimum conditions.
Meaning, if it's meant to run in Dual Channel, I would run it in Dual Channel.

Most people will never use 4GB of RAM anyway, so why anyone would run 6GB of RAM in Single Channel escapes me.

Unless you're running memory intensive tasks, you may not notice a difference between single channel mode or dual, or triple.

 

[Laudanum]

In case anyone is interested, installing the 4th dimm kicked the WEI up to 7.5 from 7.2. That's all 4 slots occupied, 8gb total, of Kingston value series RAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600).