2gb duel or 3gb single

[dsm7809]

hi i have 3gb ddr2 pc5300 in single channel and i was wondering if 2gb in deul channel would be faster for games like crysis,bioshock,coll of duty, etc

Windows XP SP2
Q6600
3gb pc5300
8800gts 512 @ 820/1150(2300)

 

[dsm7809]

anyone got any ideas

 

[sailer]

Yes, 2 gig in dual channel should be faster than 3 gig in single channel when playing games. I've used both combinations and the only advantage that 3 gig has over 2 gig is if I'm working with very large files, otherwise the 3 gig slows everything down.

 

[dagger]

Yes, 2 gig in dual channel should be faster than 3 gig in single channel when playing games. I've used both combinations and the only advantage that 3 gig has over 2 gig is if I'm working with very large files, otherwise the 3 gig slows everything down.

The problem is, when 2gb ram isn't enough, the pc will use page file out of hdd, which is far slower. Crysis uses 2+ gb ram alone after a few hours of gameplay. But of course, it's Crysis.

Why 3gb? Why not 4gb? Who cares about the ~0.5gb waste. Ddr2 ram is dirt cheap those days anyway.

 

[dsm7809]

only reason i have 3 is beacause thats what the computer came with i might just upgrade too 4gb

 

[sailer]

Using 4 gig and getting dual channel back would be a good idea. Assuming that this is a XP computer, it won't see the whole 4 gig, of course, but as dagger said, it will reduce page file use of the hard drive. If the computer uses a 64 bit OS, whether XP64 or Vista 64, then an upgrade to 4 gig would be a very good idea.

 

[EXT64]

I'd do whatever gives you dual channel. If 2GB isn't enough, I'd spend the extra money to get 4 GB so I could do dual. It is worth it (especially with how cheap ram is, assuming you are referring to DDR2).

 

[dsm7809]

yea thx for the advice il step down to 2gb for now i plan to upgrade to 4gb soon

also i have played crysis for 4-5hours andm y ram usage never went above 1.5gb

 

[dsm7809]

anyone else have any opinions or ideas?

 

[dsm7809]

....

 

[DatmanII]

Ever wonder how much memory you really should have in your PC for the best gaming experience? This article shows some pretty convincing evidence that 4GB is the right amount of memory for gaming rigs in 2008. If you want to load your game faster, play it better, and multitask more easily, you should definitely check this out!

Gaming Performance Analysis – 4GB vs 2GB

 

[dsm7809]

ty very much

 

[dsm7809]

hmmmm interesting results there seems theres not a big difference between 2gb and 4gb of ram

 

[dsm7809]

but i really wanted to know if i would see proformance inprovments going from 3gb single channel to 2gb duel channel

 

[dsm7809]

anyone else got any opinions?

 

[apache_lives]

anyone else got any opinions?

Dual channel effectively doubles the memory bandwidth and helps the system access the memory faster - its there for you, USE IT.

 

[runswindows95]

Dual, unless you're running 100MB Tiff files in Photoshop as Sailer pointed out

 

[ZOldDude]

If your using XP then 2GB of RAM is about 51% more RAM than you will ever use.

If you use Vista then just using DESKTOP will eat up about the same amout of RAM as my XP when running 4 security programs,seeding 6 torrents and playing Frontlines:Fuel of War.
TASKMANAGER points that fact out.

 

[night_wolf_in]

^lol.

yeah, that what i was gonna tell u. if u r using xp. i would tell u to stay with 2GIG. coz it will be more than enough, unless u have some intensive programs running. (such as engineering simulators).

n if u had vista, ill go with 3. even if it is slow. coz i know that vista eats up load n loads of ram compared to xp.

 

[Scotteq]

Practical answer: DDR2 is cheap enough at this point that you would be best off buying 2 x 2GB sticks. Address space limitation s will prevent it all from being used... But all of it that you *can* use will be dual channel.

Problem solved.



Every one of these 2 x2 sets are less than $150, and have CAS 4 timings.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148180

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145194

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227270



$120 and below, Cas 4

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146726

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227267 (I have 8GB of these at 4-4-4-12, 2T)



Do you say $110??

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144118

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148183


$105, perhaps??

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220293



OOh!! $99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231148



No good?? How about $85 then http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231120

 

[dsm7809]

anyways thanx for the help in 2gb duel channel im getting an extra
4% in crysis,5% in call of duty 4, and my 3dmark06 score went up by 325