Uneven Memory (4GB Soldered, 8GB in-slot) But Will Still Run on Dual-Channel?

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djleonardo24

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Sep 15, 2017
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I have an Asus UX401UQ laptop which comes with 4GB DDR4 2133MHZ onboard (soldered onto motherboard) RAM.

If I install say a Crucial/Kingston 8GB DDR4 2133MHZ RAM in the single slot that it has, will this still run in dual-channel?

If it does not run in dual-channel, would 12GB (1x4GB soldered, 1x8GB in-slot) of single-channel memory have an advantage over 8GB (1x4GB soldered, 1x4GB in-slot) given that my standard usage would be 10+ chrome tabs with either Photoshop and Illustrator opened, or 10+ chrome tabs with a game (NBA 2kXX) opened?

Some context: previously, I had an Asus K401UB which also came with 4GB DDR3L 1600MHZ soldered, and installed a Crucial 4GB DDR3 1600MHZ on the single slot available and upon checking it on CPU-Z, it said it does run in dual-channel.
 
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BFG-9000
It's an Intel chipset so the first 8GB will run in dual-channel and the last 4GB in single channel. This is called Intel's Flex-Memory Technology if you want to look it up.

AMD chips tend to be a bit pickier and usually drop into single-channel only with such a mismatch.
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BFG-9000

BFG-9000

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It's an Intel chipset so the first 8GB will run in dual-channel and the last 4GB in single channel. This is called Intel's Flex-Memory Technology if you want to look it up.

AMD chips tend to be a bit pickier and usually drop into single-channel only with such a mismatch.
 
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djleonardo24

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Sep 15, 2017
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So just to be clear I understand what I read, if I do the 12GB (1x4GB soldered, 1x8GB in-slot) configuration, 4GB from onboard RAM and the 4GB from in-slot will run on symmetrical dual-channel and the remaining 4GB from the in-slot will run on single channel?

Theoretically, is it like I have 3 memory slots, in which 2 operate in dual channel, and one in single channel?
 
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BFG-9000

BFG-9000

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Yep, only the last 4GB of the So-DIMM will run in single-channel mode, which is still 500x faster than any swapfile on SSD.

If your board can accept a 16GB So-DIMM, the 1st 8GB would run in dual-channel and the last 12GB in single-channel. It would be a bit more than double the price though.
 
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