Triple channel memory

[Schrovan_Rip]

I heard that in 2009 or so Intel will release Nelham chips with a triple channel memory controller.

Now common sense tells me that you would need three sticks to run in triple channel mode. Is this true or is Intel going to do some odd implementation of triple channel, like dividing all the memory chips on the sticks by three?

Also if you only have two sticks will the controller default to dual channel operation?

Lastly will the increased memory bandwidth significantly help with any programs?

Yeah I know its really early to ask these questions but I am just wondering if anyone has at least some answers.

 

[GSTe]

Lastly will the increased memory bandwidth significantly help with any programs?

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Don't know about the rest of your post, but with regards to this, I very much doubt triple channel will help much, after all, dual channel doesn't.

 

[ryan362]

Don't know about the rest of your post, but with regards to this, I very much doubt triple channel will help much, after all, dual channel doesn't.

Ignore this guy, he didn't understand the question obviously. There is 2 things adding "triple channel" will do. Firstly and most important it will increase the bandwidth between the cpu and memory simply because you have 6 memory slots instead of 4. The answer to the question is, it depends on the program. Some programs do not take full advantage of cpu/memory capabilities, which can be good because they operate well when multitasking, and are in most cases fast enough. There are, however, programs that would benefit from this (like SAS) and you can also do more efficient multitasking because of the extended bandwidth. Saying that the extended bandwidth doesn't help, is like saying there's no difference between 4 slots of ddr2-533 and 4 slots of ddr2-800.

What the guy who answered this question before was trying to get at was not the amount of info passed between the cpu and memory in a clock cycle, but the way in which it is packaged in order to send between the cpu and memory. For instance, the computer has to take the string of code produced by the program and break it up into chunks. If for instance you have ddr2 800 single channel, the computer will break off four 800 bit chunks per clock cycle. Information telling the computer where these chunks are stored takes up space, and takes to to read. Dual channel would only have to break off two 1600 bit chunks (because it recognizes the 2 dimms as 1 dimm with twice the bandwidth). This means there is only the need for 2 pieces of information telling the computer where the memory is. As you can probably tell, this won't make a huge difference, but it does make some difference, especially if your strings of code are large. going to triple channel from dual channel won't make much difference here, but the bandwidth may help significantly.

The recent aim of memory companies and ddr3 is to expand the bandwidth, because often the strings of code are larger than the bandwidth of dual channel ddr2 (2132 bits max) and making 1800x2 (for dual channel) ddr3 would significantly reduce the amount of pieces that strings of code are broken up into. This also increases the bandwidth which will help with some programs. The introduction of tripple channel (or more importantly 6 memory slots for 1 cpu) will allow you to buy slower ddr3 for cheaper, it will have lower CAS lat, because of the narrower bandwidth per card, but because you have 6 of them, your total bandwidth will still be very high. This is the wave of the future (until they come up with something bigger and better - probably in the next 2 years at the rate they are going).