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Dual channel "kits" really necessary for dual channel?

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dscline

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Sep 28, 2001
I'm sure this is a common question, but I did a quick search and didn't see anything. Do the memory companies REALLY do any special selection/matching with "dual channel kits", or are they really just pulling two sticks off the shelf and packaging them together, and saying they're matched? Having the flexibility of just buying two of the same thing can help from a shopping perspective, so I'm wondering if I REALLY need to restrict myself to dual channel kits. FWIW, this is for a Vencie A64 3200+ & Asus A8N-e (from the AMD Tech tour).

Any good value memory suggestions are also appreciated!
 
AFAIK if you buy the dual-channel pack and they do not work in DC then you can return and get new sticks, if you decide not to buy the sticks together you've got nothing. That is from what I understand though.
 
I've bought plenty of single sticks and matched them together with no problem. I don't believe companies do any testing with Dual sticks to make sure they work together. I could be wrong on this but even if they do, it's minimum.
 
Dual channel kits are not necessary. As long as you get matching RAM sticks you, you can run them in dual-channel.
 
single sticks will work as well as dual channel kits, the only problem with singles sticks that you can get is when you have them at different speeds, timings and memory chips, You start mixing BH5, UTT, TCCD and TCC5 and that may result in lower overclocking. Look at ocz pc3200 rev2 the older ones were coming with memory chips TCCD and the new once come with TCC5, they are the same memory but may overclock differently, well even in dual channel kits one stick overclocks higher and the other lower. If you already have a single stick of ram don't bother replacing it with dual channel, just buy matching stick
 
I think the only problem with buying single sticks is that manufacturers sometimes produce the same part number with different chips or other changes. While all versions will run at the published speed and timings, they might not play well together in DC. Crucial doesn't sell dual channel kits, and on their website they imply that the kits from other companies are just a bunch of hype, but they do say that you should buy the DIMMs at the same time if you want them to run in dual channel mode.
 
just be careful buying ram that goes through different revisions. corsair especially has released a couple revisions of their XL which i have two different version of =\ different revisions perform differently when overclocked. this is not to say that they wont work together, just that you will always be limited to your slowest stick. its good to buy dual channel kits, presumably you will get sticks speed binned to match correctly.
but no, it doesnt matter really. i know a few people who are running dual channel with completely different memory. it will work, you just have to fiddle with timings and voltages. they just have to be the same size and both single or double sided.
 
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