Dual Channel 667 vs Single Channel 800

[b_dude666]

Alright there are alot of questions like this, but I've searched and haven't found the answer I'm looking for. First I'll ask this;

I have an Asus M2NPV-VM mobo and I'm trying to run some OCZ Platinum DDR2-800 RAM. I can't get it to run in dual channel mode at the RAMs published specs. I know it's because I'm not giving it the voltage it needs, but my board doesn't offer any changes to RAM voltage other than auto and 1.9V, as far as I can tell auto runs at 1.9V anyway. Do you think updating my bios would give me more options, or is that as far as I'll be able to change my voltage with this board?

I think the answer to the question above is, no updating my bios will probably not help. So moving on;

It's a 2x1g set. I can get it to run at either dual channel DDR2-667 at 4-4-4 timings. Or both gigs as single channel DDR2-800 at 5-5-5 timings. Which of those two would offer more performance?

I got the set for 30 bucks and it's still an upgrade from the single stick of 667 I had so I'm not gonna send it back, but I'm sure someone could clue me in as to the better way to set them up . Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Groveling_Wyrm]

Dual channel at 667 should give you better performance than the single at 800.

 

[yay]

Not always true Groveling_Wyrm (i believe there was an article on toms about it), but cant you try both and see what best for you?

 

[b_dude666]

Hmm, well I've tried both and I can't really tell, but that doesn't mean the difference isn't there. Anybody have the link to the article on toms?

 

[Groveling_Wyrm]

Here is the article I presume you are referring to...

yay - you should note here (see page 5 of that article), that the benchmarks in this article were conducted on an Intel system, which has a totally different memory architecture. You should note that the OP has an AMD AM2 system. The results of those benchmarks do not totally apply to this situation.

If you research, you will find that AMD systems tend to benefit from wider bandwidths, rather than faster bandwidths, although having a wider AND faster bandwidth is the best preference. Knowing that PC2 6400 (DDR2 800) runs at 6.4 GB/s, and PC2 5300 (DDR2 667) Dual Channel runs at 10.6 GB/s, it is completely obvious that using 10.6 GB/s is MUCH more preferable to only 6.4 GB/s, especially in an AMD system. Thus, that is why I stated that is should give the OP better performance. How much difference will it make? Who knows. However there will be a performance increase.

In this case, with AMD architecture, it is always true.