Is this true?

[icculus]

AMD 64 3200 with a MSI K8N neo platinum motherboard. There is no difference between using 2 sticks of 512 MB from a dual pack or just buying 2 sticks of the 512 MB ram (same type of course)? Reason I am asking is that the dual pack is about $15 dollars more than just buying 2 individual sticks of the same ram. Thanks a lot.

M

 

[RichPLS]

the dual pack is tested and matched to gaurantee dual channel operation, yet, most good quality single dual channel stix work fine also. This is more of an issue nowadays with o/c'g, you want timings to work at above rated speeds, so you get better odds with a matched pair.
I bought 2 pair of matched 512MB Corsair XL 3200 for my rig, for 2 gigs of RAM, and runs error free at 8% overclock.

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And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[icculus]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but oh well...I thought I read somewhere that AMD 64's dont make use of dual channel Ram so it isnt a concern when buying ram for the system. You just buy whatever is cheapest, dual pack or 2 single sticks. Or will you still get performance boosts from using 2 sticks that are matched to work together?

Thanks again,
M

 

[RichPLS]

AMD 754 does not support dual channel, 939 does (actually, it is optional, same as Intel, but you do get increase in performance from dual channel).

<font color=red><pre>_____________________________________
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[icculus]

ok last question....thanks for the responses so far. So, since im getting a 754 motherboard and CPU then I wont see a performance boost from getting the dual pack as opposed to 2 individually bought sticks of the same ram? I know you said, "you do get increase in performance from dual channel" but I wasnt sure if that meant you will still see perfomance increase in using dual pack memory in a non dual channel system (754 MB with AMD 64 3200 CPU)

Thanks for your help so far.

 

[RichPLS]

754 doesn't support dual channel, but you can still get matched pair for future upgrade in another board.

<font color=red><pre>_____________________________________
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[Cybercraig]

Well, yes and no. Mushkin just grabs two sticks out of the bin with the same color heat-spreaders and puts them in a dual pack. They don't test them together at all. I have 2 X 512mb with the purple heat-spreaders. One stick has D-43 chips and one stick has D-5 chips (both are Hynix). They run fine together.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[jammydodger]

but I wasnt sure if that meant you will still see perfomance increase in using dual pack memory in a non dual channel system

You will not see any performance increase when using matched pairs in a non-dual channel system.
If you can try and get a socket 939 motherboard and CPU, I dont think socket 754 is going to be around much longer (maybe for the semprons) so its a better investment to get a 939 board.

 

[CrucialLabs]

There is no such thing as dual channel memory. It is a function of the motherboard not the memory. You can buy 2 modules at the same time, making sure the specs are the same and they will run in dual channel mode. If you can find a needle in a hay stack then you match up 2 individual modules and say they are a matched set. There is no such thing as a matched set. The only matching that is done is to make sure both modules have the same specs or color for some companies.

Crucial Performance Lab

www.crucial.com
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