2 Sticks of Dual Channel with 1 Stick of Single Channel?

I'm not really an amateur overclocker but not too knowledgable on RAM I would say.

I currently have a gig of memory (512 PC3200 + 512 PC2100) and I can't seem to get a 1:1 ratio on my processor overlcock thanks to the slower impeding me. Rather than 172X 2 = 344 DDR I have to run it using a divider of 5/4 at 274 DDR in order to use both sticks.

I want to upgrade my the PC2100 with Dual Channel PC3200 (256X2) but I don't know whether or not I can use them COMBINED with the single stick of PC3200 (512MB).

The Dual Channel sticks (256X2 = 512 MB) will be in the dual channel slots whereas the single stick (non - dual channel) of PC3200 will be in the third slot.

Would I still have a dual channel set up (with memory bandwith increasing significantly) or would the invovlemnt of the single stick stunt it?

Would it be better if I only used the 512 of Dual Channel? I really would like a 1 GB of RAM for games ya know?

Yea I pretty much have the same exact question. I have 512x2 in the dual channel and a 512 in the third slot. I want to know if I'm actually running 1.5GB

I was running 2x256 and 1x512MB in dual channel on my NF7.

So yes, you can run them like this and still be in dual channel mode.

glock19owner said:

I was running 2x256 and 1x512MB in dual channel on my NF7.

So yes, you can run them like this and still be in dual channel mode.

Click to expand...

Yea but is the 3rd slot really running at 512MB and running with the 2 other sticks at the same speed? I mean it's dual channel ram not triple channel ram. There has to be some disadvantage running in the third slot.

YAAAY! Music to my ears!

So the third stick won't decrease the bandwith?
It's somewhat confusing because why on earth would a person want to get dual sticks of 512 X2 of RAM when they can get 256X2 sticks and combine it with a single stick of 512 MB? It still comes out with 1 GB either way?

I know this one is a doozy!

Wait hold on a second I think it's not running at the same speed.

You can use three modules in Dual Channel Mode, by filling the third unoccupied slot. With three sticks, slots 1 remains as channel 0 while slot 2&3 become channel 1. To maintain 128-bit mode, with all three slots filled, each channel must have an equal amount of memory. For example, slots 1 should be filled with a 512 Mb module, while slots 2 & 3 are populated 256 Mb modules. If you were to use three modules of the same size, then only the first two modules would be running in 128 bit Dual Channel Mode. Example, using 3x 256 Mb modules will have the first 512 Mb running in 128 bit Dual Channel mode, while the remaining 256 Mb will be in 64-bit Single Channel mode.

I got that from some sticky forum. I don't understand what running in 64 bit mode would do. I don't even know what that is. Some one explain what this means.

For what I know..

The difference between running in 128 bit compared to 64 is where the excitmenet stems from using dual channel.

That translates to roughly twice the bandwith when using applications?? (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).

That's an interesting sticky? could you direct me to it?
ThanX!