Dual channel RAM?

[gran172]

Hey, i've been in this site for a few months and i've been wondering, why is it that in every build posted here people always recommend to get 2x4 instead of 1x8? I've seen some benchmarks and the difference (fps-wise) is really really small, like 5% or even less. Am i missing something?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Dual channel doubles bandwidth. As you have noticed in the real world that translates to somewhere around 5%-10% improved performance depending on what's tested. So while it's not really double it is a noticeable amount. Why wouldn't you get 2 sticks for a free 5%-10% performance boost? Or better yet why would you cripple a new system even if it's only 10%?

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Exactly. It's free performance that you're leaving on the table. Cost is pretty much the same, so why not go dual channel.

 

[gran172]

Well, if you use 2x4 you could upgrade to 16gb, with 1x8 you could upgrade to 32gb...even if 32gb is useless right now (for gaming) haha. Where i live 1x8 is way cheaper than 2x4, so i bought 1x8, but if you do gain some performance for running dual channel then i guess i could upgrade to 2x8. What about using 4 channels instead of 2?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Plus this is an enthusiast website where most of us are trying to squeeze every bit of performance we can out of our systems for whatever reasons. 😛

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Well, if you use 2x4 you could upgrade to 16gb, with 1x8 you could upgrade to 32gb...even if 32gb is useless right now (for gaming) haha. Where i live 1x8 is way cheaper than 2x4, so i bought 1x8, but if you do gain some performance for running dual channel then i guess i could upgrade to 2x8. What about using 4 channels instead of 2?

Only LGA 2011 supports quad channel memory. You can still run 4 sticks in a dual channel system but each pair of sticks run in dual channel and it doesn't make it quad channel.

 

[Rogue Leader]

And considering you don't even need 16gb today, the average PC build today will be outdated by the time 32gb is even really needed.

 

[gran172]

Hm i see, so i guess i'm better off just using 1x8 instead of 2x8?

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Hm i see, so i guess i'm better off just using 1x8 instead of 2x8?

Depends on your use case. If you're just browsing the web, doing basic computing stuff, watching videos and such, then you won't notice a difference. If you're doing rendering, video work, gaming, etc and heavy duty work then you might notice a difference.

 

[gran172]

I don't do any rendering/editing etc, just gaming, do you think it's worth it? I've seen some people say 16gb ram is worth it for gaming and some people say no

 

[Deleted member 217926]

16GB is required in a few of the newest, most demanding games if you want to max the settings at high resolutions. 8GB is fine for most gaming. Dual channel is better than single channel for all applications and gaming.

 

[gran172]

Yeah you're right, i've noticed that some games do require 16gb ram. Thanks all for the help !

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Anytime.