Confused on Dual Channeled RAM

Op Ivy · Sep 24, 2004

I haven't had a chance to buy a new computer in almost two years, but now I think it's time to get a new one. My old one was a 2.4ghz at 3.1ghz, 768mb 2700 ddr ram, 9800 radeon pro. And now I want to go all out on a new one. My only problem is with dual channeled RAM, I'm not quite clear on how that works. Apparently you need to buy two matching pairs, which I have seen for sale on newegg, but say I buy 1gb as 2 sticks of 512mb ram, how does that run? Is it ram as a gigabyte, or simply 512mbs of ram, just sped up? If anyone has a link to a site that explains how dual channeled works I'd really appreciate it.. A bit reluctant to spend money on something I don't understand.

Thanks in advance

AnomalyX · Sep 24, 2004

You should only care to get duel channel if you are buying a P4. A64s don't really get much of a kick from duel channel. Yes it is worth buying DC, just make sure you buy a "matched pair". That means that the two sticks are from the same batch and have been tested to work together. If it's stated that it is 512M DC, then it is 2 X 256M (each stick being 256M). Same goes for 1G DC (2 X 512M). If you plan on overclocking, choose a RAM that will run at or above your desired FSB. PC3700 runs at 466Mhz, PC4000 runs at 500Mhz, etc. Your P4 would be running at 400 FSB X 2 (note: 800 FSB advertised speed), Mem at 400 FSB (1:1 FSB), before overclocking. So take it from there...and have fun

edwardaune · Sep 24, 2004

AnomalyX said:
You should only care to get duel channel if you are buying a P4. A64s don't really get much of a kick from duel channel. Yes it is worth buying DC, just make sure you buy a "matched pair". That means that the two sticks are from the same batch and have been tested to work together. If it's stated that it is 512M DC, then it is 2 X 256M (each stick being 256M). Same goes for 1G DC (2 X 512M). If you plan on overclocking, choose a RAM that will run at or above your desired FSB. PC3700 runs at 466Mhz, PC4000 runs at 500Mhz, etc. Your P4 would be running at 400 FSB X 2 (note: 800 FSB advertised speed), Mem at 400 FSB (1:1 FSB), before overclocking. So take it from there...and have fun

Can you explain why it works better with Intel vs. AMD, Im curious. Thats the first Ive heard of that.

rdytorave · Sep 24, 2004

AMD64s have a short enough path from the processor to the memory that dual channel doesn't matter. P4's on the other hand have longer pipelines running from the proc to the memory so it's a bigger factor. Or so I've heard.

Trinnan · Sep 27, 2004

Does it work that way with Athlon XPs also?

Section8 · Sep 27, 2004

Well socket 754 is single channel for the AMD64 and Socket 939 for the AMD64 is dual channel and it DOES make a big difference. 3,000MB/s Bandwidth compared to 6,000MB/s is quite a difference.

Confused on Dual Channeled RAM

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