How does dual channel work when you have 4 RAM slots?

[internetswag]

Do you need 4 sticks of RAM to 'activate/utilize' it? Or does dual channel literally only apply to 'two channels' and only two sticks out of the four will be benefiting from dual channel?

 

[o1die]

Dual channel works in pairs. Your board manual will tell which pairs to use for dual channel; on many boards, simply match the sticks to two slots with the same color. Using two or four sticks, doesn't matter if they're in the right slots.

 

[internetswag]

Best answer selected by InternetSwag.

 

[internetswag]

Thank you

 

[vh1atomicpunk]

Dual channel works just the way you would think it would - it provides dual channels (access paths) to RAM.

What this means is that - in modern CPUs, a memory path is 64-bits wide. Dual channel generally requires two RAM modules or more, and usually channels are color coded on the Motherboard. This means that you can install two DDR/DDR2/DDR3 RAM modules (or 'sticks) that are identical in the opposite colored slots and achieve dual channel (or 128-bit) mode. This is mode (two modules) provides the best throughput performance for the machine, although not necessarily the best performance altogether. For example, let's say you had two DDR3-1600 modules of 1GB each installed in dual-channel mode, you would get great throughput (bandwidth/transfer speed), but might suffer from a lack of total available RAM. Best option available on modern Motherboards? 2x2GB (4GB) or 2x4GB (8GB) with lowest latency for that Motherboard. Usually more RAM is better as a rule, but above more than 4GB latency becomes an issue and is only necessary if the additional RAM can be used.

Hope this helps, hit me back at vh1atomicpunk@yahoo.com if you have other questions.

 

[internetswag]

Dual channel works just the way you would think it would - it provides dual channels (access paths) to RAM.

What this means is that - in modern CPUs, a memory path is 64-bits wide. Dual channel generally requires two RAM modules or more, and usually channels are color coded on the Motherboard. This means that you can install two DDR/DDR2/DDR3 RAM modules (or 'sticks) that are identical in the opposite colored slots and achieve dual channel (or 128-bit) mode. This is mode (two modules) provides the best throughput performance for the machine, although not necessarily the best performance altogether. For example, let's say you had two DDR3-1600 modules of 1GB each installed in dual-channel mode, you would get great throughput (bandwidth/transfer speed), but might suffer from a lack of total available RAM. Best option available on modern Motherboards? 2x2GB (4GB) or 2x4GB (8GB) with lowest latency for that Motherboard. Usually more RAM is better as a rule, but above more than 4GB latency becomes an issue and is only necessary if the additional RAM can be used.

Hope this helps, hit me back at vh1atomicpunk@yahoo.com if you have other questions.

Thank you man! And thanks for the email.

 

[billmoy]

Dual channel works just the way you would think it would - it provides dual channels (access paths) to RAM.

What this means is that - in modern CPUs, a memory path is 64-bits wide. Dual channel generally requires two RAM modules or more, and usually channels are color coded on the Motherboard. This means that you can install two DDR/DDR2/DDR3 RAM modules (or 'sticks) that are identical in the opposite colored slots and achieve dual channel (or 128-bit) mode. This is mode (two modules) provides the best throughput performance for the machine, although not necessarily the best performance altogether. For example, let's say you had two DDR3-1600 modules of 1GB each installed in dual-channel mode, you would get great throughput (bandwidth/transfer speed), but might suffer from a lack of total available RAM. Best option available on modern Motherboards? 2x2GB (4GB) or 2x4GB (8GB) with lowest latency for that Motherboard. Usually more RAM is better as a rule, but above more than 4GB latency becomes an issue and is only necessary if the additional RAM can be used.

Hope this helps, hit me back at vh1atomicpunk@yahoo.com if you have other questions.

I have a question: with 4 slots with 3 1gb matching ram chips and 1 512k ram chip, do I achieve 'dual channel' processing for the pair of 1gb chips in matching color coded slots while the remaining 2 slots operate in 'single channel' mode --or--
does any unmatched configuration switch everything to 'single channel' mode?

--Bill

 

[Spiderbait375]

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Lol me Internet swaggertjie