bombasschicken

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Jan 31, 2006
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Is duel DDR backwards compatable with single channel? I mean can I buy the duel sticks now (got a really good price on them) and stick them in my single channel board and work? I plan to upgrade to a new board and precessor soon but have the oppertuinity to get the ram now.. will this work?
 

sturm

Splendid
Yes it will work fine.
Dual DDR sticks are just regular single sticks of memory that have been tested to run together in a dual channel setup.
You can buy 2 single sticks of memory and run them just fine in a dual channel setup.

Just make sure that the Memory speed will work with whatever board you will be getting. Intel takes ddr2 memory and AMD is switching to DDR2 memory with the AM2 socket. Dont get the wrong kind.
 

nobly

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Dec 21, 2005
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I've seen more and more manufacturers start putting "Dual Channel" compatible on their products. Its a total sham! Dual Channel is controlled by the motherboard, not the RAM itself.
They even had the gall to put on the packaging "value RAM cannot be used for Dual Channel mode". I have no idea why, but its super confusing to everyone!
 

mpjesse

Splendid
Who put that on their packaging?

Anyways, dual channel is real finnicky. If someone put that label on their memory packaging is <might> be because the two modules had slightly different timings. Or one might have had a different number of chips than the other- another thing that can screw up dual channel.

-mpjesse
 

nobly

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Dec 21, 2005
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Who put that on their packaging?

Anyways, dual channel is real finnicky. If someone put that label on their memory packaging is <might> be because the two modules had slightly different timings. Or one might have had a different number of chips than the other- another thing that can screw up dual channel.

-mpjesse

Duel! Dual! Duo! doh!

It was Kingston!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141470
Check out the picture, it says "Not Dual Channel compatible"
That's true about what you say above, but its a single module... I'm not sure why they have that sticker there - perhaps it was a warning that it might be incompatible.

But my pessimistic side would believe otherwise. :)
 

mpjesse

Splendid
Yeah that's pretty crappy. I wonder why they put that sticker there? I hate to jump to conclusions an accuse Kingston of being greedy...

But they probably are being greedy. :)

-mpjesse
 

dvdpiddy

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Feb 3, 2006
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I've seen more and more manufacturers start putting "Dual Channel" compatible on their products. Its a total sham! Dual Channel is controlled by the motherboard, not the RAM itself.
They even had the gall to put on the packaging "value RAM cannot be used for Dual Channel mode". I have no idea why, but its super confusing to everyone!
yeah thats true you cant put dual channel ram on a s754 mobo and a noob could get pissed and go to the darkside of intel!