8gb Single channel vs 4gb Dual channel

[transfan]

Hello,

By mistake I purchased 1x 8gb ddr3 ram instead of 2x 4gb ddr3 ram. My motherboard (biostar B75) has 2 slots for up to 8gb each.

Should I keep the single 8gb stick or return it for 2x 4gb sticks ($4 restocking fee) or does it not matter?

Sorry if this has been asked before.

 

[itzdanielp]

Dual channel effectively doubles the max bandwidth to and from the Memory.

However, it is rare to see a difference in real world applications, as most programs can't utilize the bandwidth effectively. If you run a lot of programs simultaneously, or do a lot of video editing you may notice a small difference. But for standard use there is a less than 2% difference between single and dual channel memory.