3 Memory Sticks on a dual channel mobo

This is the mobo im buying as of now, and I know it supports dual channel mode and it has 4 slots, if I buy 3 sticks of 2 gb of the same type, the first two will run dual channel while the 3rd will run in single channel mode? MY OS is 64 bit so I can use the extra ram efficiently, but is there a downside, will using a single channel and dual channel have any effects on how my system using RAM or would still using 6 gb be alot faster than say 4GB, I am thinking yes cause it seems obvious but i thought i would double check. Thanks



Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131655

it wont run in dual channel using three sticks of ram you need two sticks or four sticks...... of the same type....

Thanks guys I appreciate it!

I think I am actually going to go with 2x4GB off of newegg as its only $110.00, this computer is for my buddy and he wants it for gaming but he is also on a budget, so I was thinking how much difference 4GB to 6 to 8 would make seeing as how I could save him almost 60 or 70 bucks downgrading to 4GB of ram, but after reading that article and several other links off google it seems 8GB might be the way to go. The CPU I picked for him is either going to be a triple or quad core and I actually was going to just ask about the 2000 OC on memory and my motherboard only supporting 1600 but you just answered that haha. Why do you need a 6 core CPU to run overclocked memory that is 2000 MHz?

Oh ya sorry I changed the mobo to, not just the RAM, but ya your right that RAM is not supported by the motherboard link above.

No idea, still looking, I just do not see a need to spend 180$ on one.

I was just going to ask where you normally start for your computer builds, but whats hard is at the end picking your mobo then picking the RAM supported by the mobo and then the total config being out of the price range.

Well my friend just said he wants to be able to run any modern game "well", thats about as much detail as he gives me, his price range is 800, however he already has a montior, mouse, and keyboard. I figured that either the Radeon 5830 or 5850 would work well to run pretty much any game on a respectable resolution with high details. For the processor I was thinking either the AMD Athlon 2 x3 or x4, the quad is only 20$ more, however I figured saving money in that area to settle for a triple core would be fine. Which is because I have a AMD Athlon 2 x3 2.8 GHz and a Radeon 4870 and I can still run most modern games at 1920x1080 with medium to high details and shading, now when i put the anti aliasing up thats a different a story haha but nonetheless his CPU and Video card will blow mine away. So really I need help with the motherboard mainly, but what is your opinion on the CPU, there is 2 triple core processors one is 80 off of newegg and the other is like 85 or 87 with a small inhance in performance and then there is the quad core for 10 to 20$ more I can get a 3.0GHz quad core. But 20 on a budget is a lot of money if it is only going to have a small increase in performance. And games are only beginning to use multi cores efficiently which is why I think saving 20 and going with a triple core would be fine.

I'm not the best at configuring mid range PC's, I't start here and upgrade the GPU -> http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system [...] figurator/ and change to an HD 5850, X4 955 Black and a 700W PSU.

Next, shop the parts at newegg.com and look for 'combo' deals.

Good Luck!

and yes, 3 sticks on a dual channel motherboard will run in single channel mode..