Is one channel enough?

[bluntpencil]

OK people.
I dont think this is too dumb a question.
Does having paired memory make a difference in real world performance?
I rationalise my question thus.
Back in the P4 days it was a sort of mantra that unlike sticks (128mb paired with a 256 mb and a 64 mb for luck) definitely degraded performance.
However I never noticed any difference whatsoever and I used to shove any spare RAM on my leftovers Pc once I had made a perfect as possible Main PC.
I have noticed that unlike the era circa 2004/5 RAM latency and timings dont seem to be any where as crucial/important today.
Back then I forked out £150+ for some 4GB Mushkin Red on my 939 setup because it had fast timing.
It was the last time I ever bothered paying silly money for RAM as I really didnt find any difference noticable to me when I played FEAR OR HL2.
And as time has passed I noticed that the issue of latency sort of fell by the wayside but that might be because I was reading the wrong mags.
So back to my original question.
1.Would one channel of 4GB DDR3 be NOTICABLY inferior to 2 x 2GB DDR3 regarding BANDWIDTH ?
2. Is it possible that using only one channel might allow higher clocks?
3. Is there any proof/figures of FPS performance in a GAME that shows the difference between 1 channel or 2?
I got a little i3 540 and I want to use it only for gaming not rendering, video editing or file conversion.
I have heard consistently over the years that the more RAM slots filled the lower the Max Overclock. I think it might refer to having 6 slots filled though and assumes that two slots is the minimum/benchmark rather than one on its own.
Anyhow I would really like to know for certain on all the three issues.
Cheers.

 

[xoriam]

Most Motherboards won't boot with 1stick of ram.
I'd go for 2x4gb
ram is so cheap atm.

EDIT: It won't post with only 1 stick installed into the "high performance" slots.

 

[Bobnova]

Regarding testable bandwidth? Huge difference.
Regarding general feel? Little to no difference that I've ever seen.

I have yet to run into a mobo that wouldn't boot with a single stick, some (LGA1156) want that stick in a specific slot, but they all boot just fine on a single stick.

There aren't any benefits to running a single stick over two sticks in normal use, in benchmarking it can be helpful in certain situations. Putting in more than one stick per IMC channel (IMC has two channels) will often reduce the maximum memory speed you can achieve, and sometimes fsb/bclk as well.

In short, if you're planning on 8GB later feel free to get 1x4GB right now and a second identical stick later.
If you just want 4GB, go for 2x2GB.

If you go with one stick and it won't boot, change the slot the stick is in. Usually the slot that must be populated is the second one out from the CPU on that platform.

 

[xoriam]

Regarding testable bandwidth? Huge difference.
Regarding general feel? Little to no difference that I've ever seen.

I have yet to run into a mobo that wouldn't boot with a single stick, some (LGA1156) want that stick in a specific slot, but they all boot just fine on a single stick.

There aren't any benefits to running a single stick over two sticks in normal use, in benchmarking it can be helpful in certain situations. Putting in more than one stick per IMC channel (IMC has two channels) will often reduce the maximum memory speed you can achieve, and sometimes fsb/bclk as well.

In short, if you're planning on 8GB later feel free to get 1x4GB right now and a second identical stick later.
If you just want 4GB, go for 2x2GB.

If you go with one stick and it won't boot, change the slot the stick is in. Usually the slot that must be populated is the second one out from the CPU on that platform.

You're right my bad, they won't post if you only install 1 stick into the high performance slots for stable OC

 

[trents]

You're right my bad, they won't post if you only install 1 stick into the high performance slots for stable OC

Your motherboard has high performance slots? Never heard of that. All the boards I've ever owned just had slots - they were all the same. Unless you have one of those boards with transition technology where it had PC/DDR or DDR/DDR2 slots or DDR2/DDR3 slots on the same board. There were a few of those produced at different times.

 

[xoriam]

Your motherboard has high performance slots? Never heard of that. All the boards I've ever owned just had slots - they were all the same. Unless you have one of those boards with transition technology where it had PC/DDR or DDR/DDR2 slots or DDR2/DDR3 slots on the same board. There were a few of those produced at different times.

yes all the boards i have used were top end so they have these "high performance slots" which are the A1 B1 and C1 if you install 1 stick into any of these and do not install in any other slots the system will not boot.
yet if you have multiple sticks the overclocking abilities will be less stressfull upon the memory-

 

[Bobnova]

Erm... A1 is the slot that LGA1156 wants populated in order to function. At least on both 1156 boards I had.

 

[bluntpencil]

Well all I have left after my recent spending spree is one stick of 4gb and it works fine, but as I am going to use XP Home 32 bit in this PC there is not much point in increasing the quantity.
I used the slot nearest the CPU and runs sweet.
I thank you for your input and will now start fine tuning my overclock and will probably stick to the fastest setting which doesnt involve increasing any voltages.
I take it that the Gen 1 i3's are still the ones to go for as you can overclock them.
I saw some figures at Toms Hardware showing this to be so but unless any of you experts know to the contrary I guess this still holds true?
For gaming, at least.
BTW I came across one of those boards you mention trents with the two different slots for DDR2 and two for DDR3. Trouble was that it was fried but they were, I guess, to enable one to upgrade from Early C2 Duo (6400 type) to the later much more potent 8600 type.
And that gets me to another question that maybe you can answer, please.
I have a Phillips Freevents all-in-one that has worked faultlessly for 3 years.
It came with a 6600 quad in it which I have swapped for a 6700.
Would The Freevents (which uses DDR2 RAM ) run with a 8600 CPU?
I have never been certain if the 8600 series only work with DDR3 RAM as I swear I have come across setups running it with DDR2 RAM.
And finally can I ask you what the gaming performance of your AMD laptop is like with that APU in it?
LLano is really something, I think at least, and apparently the new Trinity is meant to be much better as as far as CPU and GPU performance.
Cheers guys and thanks for your time

PS The board was for DDR and DDR2. It didnt want to work whatever I put in it although it was working when I first got it. Guess I messed it up.

 

[Bobnova]

775 CPUs don't care (or know) what sort of ram they're using.
The northbridge on the motherboard is what cares, so as long as the motherboard knows what to do with an e8600 (I don't know the answer to that part of the question) DDR2 will work fine with it.

The first generation of i3 CPUs overclock very nicely, my 540 was happy at 4.7GHz with reasonable voltages.

 

[bluntpencil]

Wow, wow, wow!
Cant wait to get stuck in.
I really have been out of the loop for too long.
I was so busy designing stuff I never got to game and never tried to overclock (properly, that is) at all for tooooooo long.
That is all gonna change.
What a week I have had, Bobnova!
I saved up my pennies waiting for some real bargains to come along.
Got my 1156 Mobo for £43 Amazon and my 990X (bliss!) for a sort of half reasonable price as opposed to the totally silly price it normally goes for.
And with you guys advising me so pronto its the icing on the cake.
Thanks .

 

[xoriam]

Erm... A1 is the slot that LGA1156 wants populated in order to function. At least on both 1156 boards I had.

Very strange, maybe it differs from company to company, All my Asus boards and this Sapphire Board will not boot if a single dimm is install to any of the a1 b1 or c1 slots. For example you must have a dimm in a1 and b1 to boot.
A2 is the closest one to the cpu usually on the right and is typically the slot you can run one single dimm in.