Question on ddr3 dual and tri channel

[lqprimetime]

I am trying to add more memory for a gaming machine, i7 1366 on an asus x58 motherboard.

Currently I have 6gigs of ram (3x2gigs)
I want to add more but It seems I can only buy singles and pairs of dimms.(I have giftcards to best buy and its all they sell I guess)

I kinda want to know what my options are. I have read that if i keep the 3 i have in there and add 2 more sticks, for 5 dimms total out of the 6, it'll read as single channel?

-1st, if i do add 8gig(2x4gig dimms) to the already 3 there for 5 total, will I notice a performance drop going tri to dual channel(if the above is true).

-2nd, does it matter if i remove the 3rd tri channel stick? Would it read it now as dual channel

-3rd, if I do remove the 3rd tri stick and run 2x4gig along with 2x2gig, will the dual channel be fast enough to make up for the missing 2gigs.

I want to avoid just throwing the 3x2gig sticks away if i can.

 

[akopp21]

Your system can only do triple or single channel. All three slots in the same set have to match or they will run in single channel. If there isn't a matched set of three available to buy, you can get three singles. As long as they are the exact same model number it should work. The only difference with the kits is that they have been tested with eachother.

 

[lqprimetime]

So if i get 3 single 2 or 4gig dimms of the same brand will they run tri-channel?

Also for what it's worth, the asus manual says you can stick 2 dimms in the first 2 of the 3 dimm slots and it will run dual channel.