Triple Channel vs Dual Channel

[jwill27]

Hello All,

I recently built a few new systems for friends and family and went to the recent builds for Toms Hardware and all of the comparison builds are Dual Channel. Needless to say, I was a little shocked at this since the price for triple channel kits is relatively low and the option of triple bandwidth is well worth visiting. Has there been a recent comparison done (after the recent Intel changes for stability) where triple and dual channel configurations were compared?

 

[Idonno]

Yea, I understand you thoughts on that precisely and any one else that has ever had any hobby that they are enthusiastic about should as well.

 

[OmagaIII]

REALLY, YOU TRULY THINK I DON'T UNDERSTAND DDR3?

And since you brought it up, DDR3 does indeed equal triple-channel. Just because Sandy Bridge is incapable of using DDR3 to it's full potential and can only run it as DDR2 does not mean the ram itself is not triple-channel memory.

If you had a 300lb weight set but, could only lift 200lbs would that mean you only had a 200lb weight set?

NO!

All that would mean is you are not as strong as someone that is capable using it to it's full potential and lift the entire 300lbs!

Sorry (NOT) to be blunt but, you kind of asked for it!

Wow, you really don't know memory. DDR3 DOES NOT EQUAL TRIPLE CHANNEL! WTF, no wonder you build the machine you have, your brainless...

 

[Idonno]

Wow, you really don't know memory. DDR3 DOES NOT EQUAL TRIPLE CHANNEL! WTF, no wonder you build the machine you have, your brainless...

Well look I'm not sure if your just trying to start up a dead argument or maybe you didn't read enough of the posts to understand what I meant and said which is that in the right configuration DDR3 DOES INDEED EQUAL TRIPLE CHANNEL. Those words "in the right configuration" are pretty important here since I was very clear in my posts to point out that the number of channels DDR3 operated on was a direct result of the users configuration and not the ram.

As far as My PC goes, I didn't build it for you or with your approval in mind. I could care less what you think about it.

And just like "thisguyisnuts" on the same day that you join the forum, you make your 1st and only post to me in an obvious effort to insult and flame. The similarity's are relieving! You sad little troll!

 

[hyperreader]

@idonno
so how much did you have to shell out for your system , .
and lga 2011 supports 128 GB of memory.
16 ram slots each with 8 GB on the mainstream boards.
and dual-CPU configs on slightly higher end mobos.

 

[Idonno]

@idonno
so how much did you have to shell out for your system , .
and lga 2011 supports 128 GB of memory.
16 ram slots each with 8 GB on the mainstream boards.
and dual-CPU configs on slightly higher end mobos.

Yea, your technically correct about lga 2011 supporting 128 GB of memory. However I have yet to see any lga 2011 motherboards that have more than 8 ram slots. The only lga 2011 mainstream motherboards that I have seen, that say they support 128 GB of Ram are two by MSI and they still only have 8 ram slots so even then 128GB's of ram would only be possible with 16GB ram sticks and as far as I know no one is making that yet.

I haven't seen any dual-CPU lga 2011 mainstream or server motherboards yet.

The cost of my system was:

Tower and all internals

Corsair Obsidian Series 800D Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case__________________279.99
Asus OC Station______________________________________________________________________161.97
ASUS Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BW-12B1LT LightScribe Support - OEM__________________________119.99
ASUS 24X DVD Burner Black SATA Model DRW-24B3LT LightScribe Support - OEM___________________19.99
Asus Rampage III Formula motherboard____________________________________________________299.99
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition Six-Core Desktop Processor_________________________________999.99
CORSAIR Hydro H70 CPU Cooler__________________________________________________________103.99
Corsair 1000w HX Modular PSU___________________________________________________________229.99
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 24GB (6 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 and Airflow II Fan_____________________________359.99
2 x Corsair Force 120GB SATA II SSD's @ $234.99 ea_________________________________________469.98
5 x SAMSUNG F4 HD204UI 2TB SATA II Hard Drives (+ 1 spare) @ 99.99 ea________________________499.95
2 x SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 @ $249.99 ea_______________________________499.98
HT | OMEGA eClaro 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card____________________________184.99
Koutech Dual Channel USB 3.0 PCI Express Card (2x internal) (for 2 additional front ports)_____________34.99
3 x Vantec Thermoflow 120mm Double Ball Bearing Temperature Controlled Case Fans @ $12.99 ea______38.97
Vantec Stealth 120mm Double Ball Bearing Silent Case Fan______________________________________12.99
SAPPHIRE Active DisplayPort Adapter (DisplayPort to DVI Interface)_______________________________26.99
12" Red Dual Cold Cathode Kit_____________________________________________________________8.99
24 inch 3pin Case Fan Extension Cable - Black Sleeved__________________________________________4.98
18 inch 3pin Case Fan Extension Cable - Black Sleeved__________________________________________5.97
12 inch 3pin Case Fan Extension Cable - Black Sleeved__________________________________________5.97
4Pin PWM Extension 12inch Cable - Black Sleeved______________________________________________4.75
Computer Fan 3-pin "Y" Splitter Cable - Black Sleeved___________________________________________2.49
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM____________________________179.99

Subtotal for tower and all internals (S&H not included)_______________________________________$4,557.87

Peripherals:

3 X Asus VE248H Black 24" Full HD HDMI, DVI-D, D-Sub LED Backlight LCD Monitors @ $209.99 ea______629.97
Logitech MX 5500 Revolution Black Bluetooth Cordless Desktop Standard keyboard & Mouse Kit_________149.99
Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 Computer Speakers W/cooling upgrade_________________________________240.00
Audio-Technica ATH-A700 Circumaural Closed-Back Dynamic Headphone____________________________119.25
CyberPower PP2200SW (Pure Sine Wave) 2200VA 1500W battery back-up__________________________483.52

Subtotal for Peripherals (S&H not included)________________________________________________$1,622.73

Total approximate S&H (S&H on most items was free)__________________________________________$75.00

Total System Cost___________________________________________________________________$6,255.60


And I believe that should completely answer your first question.

 

[hyperreader]

that is impressive.
but you paid too much for your gfx card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
and i could have sworn i saw several boards on newegg with 16 ramslots.

 

[Idonno]

that is impressive.
but you paid too much for your gfx card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
and i could have sworn i saw several boards on newegg with 16 ramslots.

THANKS.

You have to remember I built this PC 1yr ago. At the time $249.99 was a good price and 2 cards for CF were about $75 cheaper and had better all-a-round performance than a GTX 580.

I make about 95% of my computer related purchases at newegg and I checked before I responded to you last time. From what I saw newegg doesn't have any LGA 2011 server boards at all, just yet and and only a max of 8 ram slots on the other LGA 2011 boards.

LGA 2011 is still really new and I'm sure we'll see a lot more before it's all said and done. I'm kind of curious to see whether EVGA is going to offer something similar to the SR-2 for this new socket.

 

[blazorthon]

Only LGA 2011 and Opteron x200 dual-CPU motherboards could have exactly 16 RAM slots, 8 per CPU. Since I have yet to see a dual-slot LGA 2011 it might now count yet but they are probably coming. Some of the advanced server motherboards support 16GB and some 32GB per module. 32GB is probably the largest module capacity on the market right now.

DDR3 does not equal triple channel although some motherboards can run DDR3 memory in triple channel mode. The 3 in DDR3 has absolutely no relation to channels, it is just that DDR3 is the third RAM technology in the DDR family. There are other RAM technologies that are DDR in the literal meaning of DDR but they aren't called DDR because of other differences, not the least of which lawsuits and compatibility. DDR3 can be run in 1, 2, 3, or 4 channels depending on your motherboard's capabilities. If motherboards were made that supported even more channels then the RAM would not need to be changed in order to run in those additional channels.

If someone really wanted to they could build a DDR2 or even DDR motherboard that supported triple channel or more because the RAM technology isn't what chooses the number of channels it is the memory controller that is located on the CPU in Intel computers based on the LGA 1156 or newer sockets and all AMD computers since 2003 or so or on the northbridge chip on the motherboard of LGA 775 and LGA 771 motherboards and older for Intel and very old AMD motherboards. Moving the controller to the CPU increased performance because it got rid of a middleman between the RAM and CPU and it decreased power consumption of the motherboard because one less chip was required in a chipset.

On desktop systems only x58 motherboards support triple channel and only x79 motherboards support quad channel. On the server side Xeons and Opterons support dual, triple, or quad channel also depending on the motherboard's chipset. Every modern computer with two or more DIMM or SO-DIMM slots support dual channel, without any exception I'm aware of. In this sense of modern system I mean pretty much anything that can run DDR memory or newer.

The problem with increasing channel count is that bandwidth really doesn't increase by much. dual, triple, and quad channel are not double, triple, and quadruple the bandwidth like you would think they are. The difference between single and quad channel may be significant bu the difference between single and dual channel really isn't that big. The difference between dual and triple is even lower. Also, LGA 1155 quad core CPUs are considerably faster in work that doesn't use more than 4 threads compared to LGA 1366 CPUs. LGA 2011 CPUs have the best of both worlds, fast single threaded performance and fast multi threaded performance.

For gaming the 1366 CPUs really aren't any better unless you make use of their extra PCIe lanes. In fact they are slightly slower in many games. Not noticeably slower but still slower. Of course this changes with dual graphics card setups but because the PCIe lanes aren't directly connected to the CPU (In LGA1366 they go to the chipset) like they are in LGA 1155 there is increased latency between the CPU and GPU. This isn't the only reason for the differences between LGA 1366 and 1155 but it is there. Well, I'm done ranting.

I apologize for commenting about the older debate but it was really irking me as I read through this thread. I assume you meant by your side that only DDR3 was capable of triple channel on any motherboard built in which case you are right but this other guy(s) really annoyed me in his misunderstanding of this. In all fairness you weren't very clear about it but that is no reason for him/her to act that way, especially on a site like this.

Moving on to the current argument, Idunno you definitely have a better machine then I could afford and unlike some others here I won't hate you for it (although I wouldn't mind having the cash to throw around on a machine like that).

 

[hyperreader]

^+ 1 bazillion.

my rig:-

CPU - intel E8400@3.0GHz.
mobo - intel DG31PR
GPU - nvidia 9500 gt
ram - 2*2 GB DDR 2 ( one stick@288mhz , other one@400mhz. )
generic case.
boxed heatsink and fan.
and all this cost nearly a 1000$ in 2008.
feel free to make fun of it.

 

[Idonno]

I apologize for commenting about the older debate but it was really irking me as I read through this thread. I assume you meant by your side that only DDR3 was capable of triple channel on any motherboard built in which case you are right but this other guy(s) really annoyed me in his misunderstanding of this. In all fairness you weren't very clear about it but that is no reason for him/her to act that way, especially on a site like this.

Moving on to the current argument, Idunno you definitely have a better machine then I could afford and unlike some others here I won't hate you for it (although I wouldn't mind having the cash to throw around on a machine like that).

Don't apologize, your post was very clear/concise and devoid of malice. Very informative as well.

However Just so no one has to assume what I meant, I NEVER SAID DDR3 ALWAYS = TRIPLE CHANNEL. In fact I have repeatedly pointed out that it does not. I have stated previously in this thread and I QUOTE:

"And just so there's no more confusion on what someone might think I "SEEM TO THINK" nowhere in this entire thread have I even suggested that the 3 in DDR3 or the 2 in DDR2 has any direct correlation to the number of channels memory is capable of. To the best of my knowledge it is a generation designation. "

And in spite of what I just wrote I really did enjoy your post, I guess its just a little bit of cumulative frustration.

As far as the whole expensive PC thing goes I have friends that go on expensive vacations, buy expensive Bass Boats, expensive cars, jet ski's, etc..etc..etc. We are all mostly skilled blue collar type workers none of us are poor and certainly none of us are rich. But I have never felt any jealousy, anger or felt the need for negative judgement because they spent their own money on something that made them happy. Go figure! And thanks for not hatin'.

 

[Idonno]

feel free to make fun of it.

Never, you get what you can afford when you can afford it. That's all!

Besides my amazing powers of precognition are trying to tell me something...wait.....its getting clearer.... OK... got it! Someday, your going to have one kick-ass PC and you know my predictions always come true!