4 dimms vs 2 dimms alienware M17x

[drpsyc]

i will be getting into my first alienware laptop here in a few days. i have a $2,200 budget and after setting up my initial rig i decided to drop from W7U to W7HP and from 16GB of RAM to 6 so i could get a better GPU because i cant instal a GPU later but i can do the other 2. my question is on there site from 6-8 gigs it says 2 dimms and above that it says 4 dimms. does this mean that there is something different with the motherboard that will keep me from later upgrading to the 16 gigs i want? also if not do you all have any recommendations, and info as to why you recommend that product?

 

[nna2]

alienware laptops have removable GPU's btw

you can get 8GB dimms so you would still be able to upgrade to 16GB even if it only has 2 slots

 

[drpsyc]

but isnt it true its better to run (4) 4 gigs over (2) 8 gigs?

 

[raytseng]

Given exactly the same price, and same total amount of memory, of the same specs.

It is very slghtly better to run 2 sticks, there are less slots to address. Timing is slightly reduced when running with 4sticks; but it is a very minor difference.

Use it only as a tiebreaker. If choice is between 16gb vs 8gb; or saving a decent amount of money, use one of those factors instead.

 

[drpsyc]

ok so if i choose the 6 gig 2 dimm option more than likely there will be 2 more slots i can use? and if so i can get an extra 16 gigs 2x8 and just put them in with no problem or will the different sizes effect proformance? also something about sandy bridge, whatever that is...

 

[nna2]

if your running somthing like 1x8GB and 1X4GB it will likely run single channel and have lower performance