Question Which is better, one stick of 8GB or two sticks of 4GB?

[Dimitri001]

I often hear people talk about two sticks of RAM working in dual channel and I'm wondering, is two sticks working in dual channel better than one stick of an equal amount of RAM? (I'm talking about DDR3 here)

If dual channel is better, can any MB run RAM in dual channel? (because I have a very old MB)

 

[NightHawkRMX]

2x4gb sticks running in dual channel is generally better than 1x8gb stick of same frequency, timings, etc.

What exact motherboard and CPU do you have?

 

[Newtonius]

Depends on the board, some boards support single channel primarily while others are optimally defined for 2. If you have an old motherboard but it has 4 ram slots chances are it's still better to install 2 ram sticks instead of 1. You can find out if your motherboard supports dual-channel memory in its manual.

 

[kanewolf]

Two matched DIMMs is always best. Most CPUs are designed with dual channel memory controllers. To maximize performance you want two DIMMs.

 

[Dimitri001]

2x4gb sticks running in dual channel is generally better than 1x8gb stick of same frequency, timings, etc.

What exact motherboard and CPU do you have?

The MB is MSI MS-7641 and the CPU is Athlon II X2 250

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Best option is 2 stick for that combo.

 

[kerberos_20]

dual core cpu may not see any benefits in faster dual channel ram