Dual channel RAM performance?

JJR2

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Oct 31, 2007
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I have the MSI K9N SLI MB for Socket AM2, Athlon 64 X2 5200+, Corsair DDR2 RAM, WinXP Pro. What is the realistic performance gain in dual-channel configuration vs. single-channel for the AMD cpu's and 32-bit OS for typical applications and games?
 

zenmaster

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Feb 21, 2006
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I read an article recently that stated it was quite small.
I don't recall but it was hardly noticble

I wish I had the article so I knew the tested platforms, etc....
 

kshipper

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I conducted my own test since I was building a system for a customer with only one stick of RAM in single channel mode it was and easy test to add a second stick and run the test again. However: You have to wonder how much extra performance I got from the 2nd stick was due to the dual channel mode or just the fact that I had more RAM? The increase resulted in approx. 10% better scores on 3dmark.
 

bildo123

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Ha I believe it was right here on Tom's that I read a similar article of the one you speak. What I do remember from it though that with the advanced caching of todays CPU's and their built in memory management, dual-channel now provides an unoticable performence increase. From the article the dual channel was usually the same, if not, 1~2FPS faster in the gaming benchmarks.