RAM channel question

[yatys93]

Hi

really quick question, If I have 3 4gb sticks, all the same speed, so 2 sticks in one channel and 1 stick in the other, could that cause me pc to say 12gb installed but only 7.96 usable?

 

[Woody1999]

No, the PC would still recognise it as 12GB of RAM. If you have a newer motherboard then you probably you have one pair of RAM sticks running in dual channel and a single RAM stick running in single channel.

Are all the sticks the the same brand, the same speed and the same voltage? If not you may have issues.

Woody

 

[yatys93]

No, the PC would still recognise it as 12GB of RAM. If you have a newer motherboard then you probably you have one pair of RAM sticks running in dual channel and a single RAM stick running in single channel.

Are all the sticks the the same brand, the same speed and the same voltage? If not you may have issues.

Woody

all the same speed and voltage but 1 stick is a different brand, was a quick fix till pay day, bought GTA but with 8gb of ram I get up to 85-92% memory usage and the entire system lags, making it really had to play games, bought 1 stick off of amazon until pay day when I getting a 16gb corsair kit.

the system is telling me I have 12, but I can't change it to let me use that, and CPU-Z is saying I'm running in single channel.

Should I hold off buying the kit till I know for sure it will work, or is it likely to be compatibility issues and should be fine with a kit

 

[Woody1999]

It's likely to be a compatibility issue, even if it's not speed/voltage. I'd hold out with 8GB until you order the 16GB kit and then run dual channel 24GB.

Woody

 

[yatys93]

It's likely to be a compatibility issue, even if it's not speed/voltage. I'd hold out with 8GB until you order the 16GB kit and then run dual channel 24GB.

Woody

ok, thanks

although I will be running with 16gb as it is a 4 stick kit and my board only has 4 slots