Basic RAM question

[wskinn]

All else being equal, which is faster two 2gig sticks of RAM or four 1gig sticks of RAM?

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! I have set aside the four 1gig sticks that were suspected of causing continuous BSODs over the last month. I have replaced them with two sticks of 2gig. My shiny new xmas computer build has gone from BSOD nightmare to ultra reliable wonder computer! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, you great big wonderful world of volunteer computer folks who are willing to take the time to answer complete strangers questions!

 

[IH8U]

Tecnically 1 4GB stick, but the 2x2GB would be better (remember some motherboards have issues when all 4 banks are used immediately).

Woot 800 posts

 

[Nik_I]

Tecnically 1 4GB stick, but the 2x2GB would be better (remember some motherboards have issues when all 4 banks are used immediately).

Woot 800 posts

congrats on 800 posts, and yes you're right. The less sticks the better, but i think that 2x2gb might be faster than 1x4gb. i think dual, or even triple channel would increase the performance more than having one DIMM.

 

[jitpublisher]

Agree here, 2 sticks simply will lead to less problems with timings and voltage than 4. Many times you have to raise the timings, or raise the voltage to get all 4 sticks running their full potential. Some boards will even by default, underclock the buss speed of the memory when you populate all 4 slots.

 

[bmlevey]

+1

 

[grieve]

I have no links or data to back this up…

I think they would be the same except of course 2*2 would require less voltage and produce less heat thus making it superior??

Also some motherboards do in fact have difficulties with 4 banks of memory as jitpublisher mentioned.

 

[boulard83]

+1 ! 2x2g is cheap and NICE atm !

 

[SirCrono]

4x1 is faster, 2x2 is less of a hassle in many many ways and you'll never (NEVER) notice the speed difference in real life use (gaming, encoding, web surfing, etc)

So, 2x2 it is

 

[MRFS]

filling all 4 DIMM slots puts more stress on the Northbridge.

Ditto 2 x 2.

G.Skill now have 2 x 2GB @ 4-4-4-12 e.g.:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-undervolt-efficiency,2134-3.html

"At $50, the G.SILL Pi Black was just the memory we needed. Worth mentioning is the tall heatsinks would prevent use of 4 of these sticks unless we changed CPU coolers. "


MRFS