yes i know its memory and what not, what i want to know is what the difference is between the whole dual channel memory or something like that. thanks
Could someone clear up RAM for me?
- Thread starter Aecliptica
- Start date
xenophobe
Active Member
Single Channel memory uses whatever memory you have in however memory slots, and the CPU accesses all of them with 1 controller.
Dual Channel memory is controlled by two seperate memory controllers, increasing cpu to memory transfer bandwidth, so the CPU can access both simulatnously and independently. Obviously you need 2 memory dimms for Dual Channel to work.
Dual Data Rate also allows a read and write per clock cycle, so DDR in Dual Channel mode is basically the best way to go, though the memory, CPU and chipset all have to support it.
Pretty much any new computer you would buy will support this. Oh, and if you're getting a newer system, go for the best memory upgrade... I think from 1gig standard DDR to 1gig Corsair, I paid less than $50 more. I think it's worth spending the extra money on the best quality memory.
Dual Channel memory is controlled by two seperate memory controllers, increasing cpu to memory transfer bandwidth, so the CPU can access both simulatnously and independently. Obviously you need 2 memory dimms for Dual Channel to work.
Dual Data Rate also allows a read and write per clock cycle, so DDR in Dual Channel mode is basically the best way to go, though the memory, CPU and chipset all have to support it.
Pretty much any new computer you would buy will support this. Oh, and if you're getting a newer system, go for the best memory upgrade... I think from 1gig standard DDR to 1gig Corsair, I paid less than $50 more. I think it's worth spending the extra money on the best quality memory.
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Wraith
alright so you mentioned that you need 2 memory dimms for dual channel work , so what youre saying is the have really bad ass memory, i could put 512DDR corsair in one slot and 512DDR corsair in the second slot ? which would ultimately mean i woul dbe getting 1gig of ram correct?xenophobe said:
if so, is there 1gig sticks out now? so i could put 2 1gig DDR in the slots to have 2k ram?
xenophobe
Active Member
Yes, there are 1 gig sticks... and yes you need to use memory that is rated for Dual Channel. You don't have to buy Corsair specifically, just that their memory is rated to be some of the best out there. There are a number of other manufacturers as well.
But yes, using 2 512 gig corsair dimms, you would have 1 gig of memory. I personally don't see why you would need 2 1 gig sticks, because with 1 gig of memory, you can pretty much eliminate your swap file if you want.
What the Dual Channel does is basically eliminate wait-states... since memory is slower than the actual signals that the CPU can send, it must pause at certain times during a clock cycle... what having dual channel means, instead of waiting for one dimm, it can access the other one as well... so the performance benefits of Dual Channel are actually notable in benchmarks.
But yes, using 2 512 gig corsair dimms, you would have 1 gig of memory. I personally don't see why you would need 2 1 gig sticks, because with 1 gig of memory, you can pretty much eliminate your swap file if you want.
What the Dual Channel does is basically eliminate wait-states... since memory is slower than the actual signals that the CPU can send, it must pause at certain times during a clock cycle... what having dual channel means, instead of waiting for one dimm, it can access the other one as well... so the performance benefits of Dual Channel are actually notable in benchmarks.
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Wraith
my computer has 4 memory slots.... it came with 2 256mb chips of memory, with one in slot 1 and another in slot 3. so when i bought my computer, i had 512 mb of dual channel memory. i wanted 512 mb more, so in order to get 1 gb dual channel, i had to buy 2 identical 256 mb chips and put them in slot 2 and 4. thats how it works, 1 and 3 have to be identical, and 2 and 4 must be identical.
Steve
New Metal Member
SculptedCold
-scented manbeef-
xenophobe
Active Member
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Wraith
NAD
What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse
I really don't see how that could possibly be worth it. Maybe for some high end graphic designer, but even then...
Final_Vision
This is Not an Exit
I have 512mb of RAM. How do you tell if you have slots for two sticks instead of just a single stick?
xenophobe
Active Member
Depending on your motherboard, you'll have either 3 or 4 slots.
The easiest way to tell is by opening the case and physically looking.
The easiest way to tell is by opening the case and physically looking.
SculptedCold
-scented manbeef-
Final Vision; just get rid of your case. If you've got space where your tower is, just take everything out and leave it in a pile, with the fans sitting next to each end of the mobo and graphics card as required. it's just a way cooler way to do stuff, and you can fiddle about with your bits dead easy!!! 
Man, I can't wait till i've got a secure enough space to get rid of my tower completely and just have the bowels messily arranged out in the open.
meh, i've only got 3 RAM slots.
Man, I can't wait till i've got a secure enough space to get rid of my tower completely and just have the bowels messily arranged out in the open.
meh, i've only got 3 RAM slots.
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Wraith
that 1337 RAM is such a ripoff.... you can buy a good 512 stick for what, 90 bucks about? 4 gb would be about $720 that way, but this ram is 7,000
