Corsair XMS with Asus Sabertooth z77?

jlee14

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
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Solution
If you put 2 or 4 cards, the memory will work in dual channel, meaning that 2 cards will be used at the same time(generally card in the 2nd and the 4th slot). So for a single process (eg. Firefox) the ram used in running the program will be divided among both the cards so to give you better speeds. There is about 50% to 70% speed gain.

For dual channel to work properly you need both the cards of the same specs(frequency, timings, voltages, even version). Similar cards do work in dual channel but can cause problems. Although in some motherboards you can set the timings individually for different memory channels.

If you can return your current ram card, do it and get two 4gB cards. Generally higher capacity cards are slower.
If you...

jlee14

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
77
0
10,630


Thanks xtonny,

I will do that down the road when I get some extra cash. Just out of curiosity though. What is dual channel? I'm curious will I notice a performance decrease because I only have one stick? Thanks.
 

Xttony

Distinguished
If you put 2 or 4 cards, the memory will work in dual channel, meaning that 2 cards will be used at the same time(generally card in the 2nd and the 4th slot). So for a single process (eg. Firefox) the ram used in running the program will be divided among both the cards so to give you better speeds. There is about 50% to 70% speed gain.

For dual channel to work properly you need both the cards of the same specs(frequency, timings, voltages, even version). Similar cards do work in dual channel but can cause problems. Although in some motherboards you can set the timings individually for different memory channels.

If you can return your current ram card, do it and get two 4gB cards. Generally higher capacity cards are slower.
If you cannot return the card, go get another card right away, if you buy cards in the future they can cause problems. Since I've been the victim of a similar incident which caused my two hard drives to crash, I'd recommend you stand clear of this kind of problem.
 
Solution