2 Sticks or 1

Yes you can

Best answer selected by RiotBricker.

Thanks, I expected that to be a complex question with no definitive answer!

Just for fun, what about running 3 sticks? Is that something you don't really want to do?

From my reading running duel channel 2 sticks is faster and here is why. Even though you may not use all the Gigs of ram the system still splits the use between the channels. think of it like a highway. One stick takes two lanes one north one south. North bound lane is data the cpu sends to the ram and the south bound lane is the return from the ram to the cpu.

Now the way duel channel would work is in stead of sending fifty cars north and fifty cars south all in a single line it will allow for a 4 lane highway and have 2 cars side by side returning. making the speed at which the data is sent and received faster and ready for use. In short 2X4GB sticks in duel channel will be faster than 1X8GB stick because of the path way restriction.

there is a definitive answer. there is a reason for duel channel and that is the speed for data transfer as explained in my last post.

as for the 3 sticks it would depend on the second gen I7 setup with triple channel. even not on those it can be done but I have not personally tested effects of it. now i think of it i just might test that over the weekend.

That explanation was a little closer to what I was expecting, thanks!