*** 2 Dimms or 4? ***

[billbo_litenin]

I have a troubling question.

Which is faster.

2 x 1gig of ram for 2gig
or
4 x 512Meg of ram for 2gig

Logically speaking 4 dimms would be faster. as there is a greater bandwidth, but then i means the CPU has to address more ram over a larger area.

I want to know as im building a new rig and im having a tough time deciding if its worth spending more money on the gig sticks or just buy 2 512 for the time being and adding more if i feel i need it later.

Whats everyones thoughts? and if your a mega techy guru person please help me resolve this.

 

[darkstar782]

The controller is not Quad Channel, it is Dual, so there is no more bandwidth from 4 dimms than 2.

4 Dimms also means less stability and you'll more than likely have to go for a 2t command rate.

2 Dimms also means you have more slots to upgrade to 4 gig if you ever need to.

 

[hacky_maximus]

Usually, DIMMs work like this: 1 and 3 in dual ch. and also 2 and 4 in dual ch. , so you can get dwo pairs of dual ch. But, I would go for 2 sticks of 1 Gig, because they will work fine in dual ch, and the performance will be the same like using 4 sticks of 512Mb.

 

[billbo_litenin]

I know its not quad channel but ram is bult to work dual channel and having 2 sets of dual channel must surely be faster than just one.

Im not worried about going any further than 2 gig really.

just thought that maybe having 4 sticks would be faster than 2. My thoughts behind it are purely logical though, more bandwidth the faster it is...?