1 GB Dual channel vs 1.5 GB regular

[anonymous5929]

I'm building my new computer tuesday and i have 2 options for RAM. I have 3 sticks, 2 of them are set up for dual channel. What would be faster? the 2 sticks of 512 pc3200 dual channel, or 3 sticks of 512 pc3200 regular?

rest of my setup: Asus a8n-sli premium, Geforce 7900 gtx, antec truepower 2 -550 watt, AMD 3700+ San diego, western digital 120GB HD 7200 RPM.

 

[timberwolf1]

Use all 3 sticks - the performance gain will be over and above the dual channel for the 2 sticks.

 

[anonymous5929]

ok, thanks. I wonder just how big of a margin it'll be. I'm going to benchmark it both ways and find out . An interesting test!

 

[llama_man]

It depends what you're doing at the time. If your apps only need 1Gb of memory then having faster RAM will increase performance. But if the apps need >1Gb, then not having to use virtual memory will probably be better.

Some games (BF2 notably) can use up to 1.5Gb of RAM, so you'd probably benefit from having the third stick.

In terms of performance benefits from dual-channel, there have been numerous test to quantify it. The most I've heard is 15%, but usually you'll hear people mention ifures around the 5% mark.

But, as you said yourself, the only way to know for sure is to try it out yourself.