help with memory installation

drdenby

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Jan 21, 2014
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I hope I am wording this ok.

If on 4 slot motherboard you have 2 16gb modules and 2 8gb modules, are you getting any benefit of dual/trip/quad channel performance? motherboard has 1st and 3rd slot and 2nd and 4th set up as the dual channel slots, so the 2 16gb and 2 8gb are in the correct slots.

or must all 4 be identical to get ANY benefit at all?

 
Solution
As long as you match each stick to a color on your motherboard, yes. Usually the colors are in ABAB order, so put the sticks as 16GB, 8GB, 16GB, 8GB
You don't need them identical to use all four, they can be different sizes.
But they will all be the speed of the slowest stick. For example, if you have a stick with a speed of 1600 and one with 1800, they'll both be 1600.
 
It has to be 4 of the same type modules for you to get real benefits.

If you're adding multiple speeds and size modules in the board. It all slows down to the slowest denominator on the board. Also you might get some really problematic errors with Windows and some legacy programs.

Maybe some games would crack it at the sudden change.

It's more highly recommend to use the same type modules for optimal performance.
 
I am sorry, I should have added that they are all identical frequency and latency, the only difference is size.

Are you all saying that there is no benefit at all in terms of multi channel performance if it is set up this way?