Ram dual channel vs non-dual channel

Brad Neil2 · Mar 20, 2015

I'm going to get 8GB of g.skill ddr3 1866 ram, but I have heard of this so called dual channel memory where I can simply buy a set of 2 sticks containing 4GB of ram each, it's slightly more expensive alternative to just getting 1 stick of 8GB ram.

So what do you recommend I do, what are the pros and cons of choosing dual channel memory over non-dual channel memory. By the way I'll save a whopping $5 if I choose the 1 stick of 8GB (non-dual memory).

Bear in mind that this is five New Zealand dollars, which means it's slightly less for you Americans reading this and about half as much for your British pounds. As for you Zimbabweans reading this, my $5 is approximately your $50000000000000000000000000

Pinhedd · Mar 20, 2015

Brad Neil2 :

Dual-Channel doubles the maximum theoretical bandwidth. More DIMMs usually means more ranks too, and more ranks enables more open pages at once.

Brad Neil2 · Mar 20, 2015

Pinhedd :

Brad Neil2 :

Dual-Channel doubles the maximum theoretical bandwidth. More DIMMs usually means more ranks too, and more ranks enables more open pages at once.

"Dual-Channel doubles the maximum theoretical bandwidth."

Ok what's that?

brispuss · Mar 20, 2015

Read this.

Basically, the (memory) bandwidth is the amount of data transferred per second (in Gigabytes per second (GB/s) or Megabytes per second (MB/s) to/from the memory.

Brad Neil2 · Mar 20, 2015

brispuss :

And if I were to go for dual channel memory I would have a slight performance increase?

LucoTF · Mar 20, 2015

The difference in gaming is near zero.

In general use, anywhere up to 10% improvement going dual channel.

brispuss · Mar 20, 2015

In many cases there should be a slight improvement in performance, but that is dependent on how applications and games run and how much they utilize the memory.

Brad Neil2 · Mar 20, 2015

brispuss :

What do you mean by that? For example I could have 12 tabs open.

Karadjgne · Mar 20, 2015

Also to consider, there is safely in numbers. If you have 2x ram sticks and 1 dies, you can still use just 1x 4Gb to run Windows while waiting on a replacement. If you only have 1x stick, you'll have some fun trying to diagnose dead ram vrs dead mobo vrs dead psu vrs dead gpu when pc won't boot.

brispuss · Mar 20, 2015

Brad Neil2 :

What this means that the more data being transferred to/from the memory, the better the performance due to increased memory bandwidth. Conversely, if relatively little data is being transferred to/from the memory, then there will be little noticeable improvement in performance. All this transferring of data is dependent on applications and games, some may require more data transfer, others may need less data transfer; it depends on how the applications and games have been programmed.

giantbucket · Mar 20, 2015

if this is in a laptop (or desktop that only has 2 memory slots), i'd go for a single stick of 8G simply because it gives you more options down the road if you need even more rammage.

Karadjgne · Mar 20, 2015

I'm not a fan of mix'n'match ram. If you need more, but the limit, not the addition. It's never a good idea to mix ram anyways. Even identical ram from the same vendor can come from different batches of silicon, which can and will change secondary and tertiary timings which can cause instability. The further away from same you get, the greater the likelihood of incompatibility without some serious intervention, downclocking etc. Basically, if you ain't a ram guru, don't try it.

1 kit = compatible. 2x kits = maybe, 2x different kits = good luck with that.

Brad Neil2 · Mar 20, 2015

Karadjgne :

But both ram sticks I'm getting are exactly the same, they even come shipped together surely they'd be fine to put in my motherboard?

Brad Neil2 · Mar 20, 2015

brispuss :

Brad Neil2 :

What this means that the more data being transferred to/from the memory, the better the performance due to increased memory bandwidth. Conversely, if relatively little data is being transferred to/from the memory, then there will be little noticeable improvement in performance. All this transferring of data is dependent on applications and games, some may require more data transfer, others may need less data transfer; it depends on how the applications and games have been programmed.

So what you're saying is, the more intensive the workload, the more noticeable the performance gap between dual channel and non dual channel?

gskill support · Mar 20, 2015

Essentially.

You won't notice any difference if you don't have a means of displaying the performance/improvement.

DDR3-1333 is just as fast as DDR3-3000 when browsing the internet...

Tradesman1 · Mar 20, 2015

Brad Neil2 :

__________

Mixing is a crapshoot, in some recent testing I did, two manufacturers sent identical sets, and both the models took some voltage adjustments to get them to play, I've encountered matching sets of identical models before that simply would not play together also.

Karadjgne · Mar 20, 2015

+1 Tradesman1.

Exactly. If you want 8Gb, buy 8Gb. If you change your mind later and want 16Gb, buy 16Gb, 1 single package, and sell the old 8Gb. It's the only way to be sure of playing nice.

giantbucket · Mar 20, 2015

i for one think that's excessive and sometimes wasteful. if one is just going for more ram before anything else, then one could mix a 4G from one day and an 8G from another day. worst case it might mean dumbing down the sticks to the lowest common denominator, but plenty of tests show that there are very slight differences between speeds or timings.

sure, if you know how much ram you will want or need, then buy it all up front. but adding some down the road doesn't mean ditching the first set altogether.

unless you're a gamer or tweaker and everything has to be oh-so-perfect and benchmarked to the third significant digit.

Tradesman1 · Mar 21, 2015

giantbucket :

____________

The point is there are no guarantese that sticks from different packages will play together at all. I've had 2 sets of the same identical model that simply won't play...period (on a number of occasions), and I'm rather comfortable playing with base timings, voltages, CR etc...even going into secondary and tertiary timings.

It can be as simple as you make it out to be or it can be they won't play (50/50 chance), if they don't then you can be stuck with RMAing, return postage, restocking fees, being without that additional DRAM you planned on (and may have needed, etc)

Karadjgne · Mar 21, 2015

You, for one, have a clue. Average op doesn't. I have a clue, and yet I wouldn't relish spending out for 8 extra Gb of 2400 to match my original 2400 and having to spend time messing around with ram voltages and end up with 16Gb of 2133 just to get them "close" to playing nice. Just gotta love being knee deep in a project, just to bluescreen when you try and save. But thats ok, you'll only get 1 bluescreen a month, close enough is good... Right?

Tradesman1 · Mar 21, 2015

Karadjgne :

____________

:lol:

Brad Neil2 · Mar 21, 2015

gskill support :

Ah I see, now what difference would be noticeable when comparing ddr3-1333 to ddr3-3000 or even ddr4 for that matter?

What I mean is, what kind of program would this bandwidth (ram speed I think) have the greatest effect on.

Tradesman1 · Mar 21, 2015

Things like multi-tasking, video, imaging, CAD, anything that's DRAM intensive or using large data sets:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dram-benchmark-fluctuations,4080.html

Brad Neil2 · Mar 21, 2015

Karadjgne :

What but that doesn't add up, why would stores sell you 2 sticks of 4GB ram if they didn't even work?

http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f314900cl9d8gbxl

That's what I want to get^

What your saying doesn't make sense, you think it's a bad idea to mix ram but that's like saying what happens when you mix red and red, you get RED! Same thing here because they're the same ram.

Brad Neil2 · Mar 21, 2015

giantbucket :

FYI I'm going from nothing to 8GB, it's not very excessive, and this is just for me, there are people out there who'd argue 16 and 32GB is not excessive

Ram dual channel vs non-dual channel

Reputable

Champion

Reputable

Splendid

Reputable

Splendid

Splendid

Reputable

Titan

Splendid

Dignified

Titan

Reputable

Reputable

Splendid

Legenda in Aeternum

Titan

Dignified

Legenda in Aeternum

Titan

Legenda in Aeternum

Reputable

Legenda in Aeternum

Reputable

Reputable

Share this page