Ram slots on motherboard question

[ncarlson]

Is there any specific reason that many motherboards seem to have alternating colors on the ram slots? I can't seem to find out.

Thanks,

Nathan

 

[aford10]

Yes. It's to signify the matching ports for dual/tri channel memory setup.

 

[ncarlson]

All right...

Does this mean that if I decide to occupy all slots with a RAM module, that I would only have a dual -channel memory setup? This sounds like a frustrating situation, especially if I am trying to max the amount of RAM I am using, with minimal cost. For example, using 4x 2GB modules as opposed to 2x 4GB modules.

Thanks for the input.

 

[saaiello]

E ach set of RAM will run as seperate entities. So if you have 4 slots one yellow one black they will both run in dual channel mode. You should see better performance from 4x 2 GB chips then just haveing 2x 4GB because it will have more lanes for information to travel on plus smaller chips tend to have more aggressive timeings.

 

[aford10]

All right...

Does this mean that if I decide to occupy all slots with a RAM module, that I would only have a dual -channel memory setup? This sounds like a frustrating situation, especially if I am trying to max the amount of RAM I am using, with minimal cost. For example, using 4x 2GB modules as opposed to 2x 4GB modules.

Thanks for the input.

It all depends on your situation. Some motherboards (1366) use tri channel. A 32 bit OS won't use more than ~3.25GB of RAM. Some users would never use more than 2GB of RAM.

It all depends on the motherboard you have, what you use it for, the OS you are using, and your budget.

 

[ncarlson]

Best answer selected by ncarlson.