What's better: dual-channel memory mode or a bit more RAM?

[Lucio M Nicolosi]

On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 9:04 AM, Adam Funk <a24061 at ducksburg.com> wrote:
> I had 2 × 512 MB RAM in my home computer and a colleague offered me 3
> extra DRAMs that he had at home.  My motherboard has 4 slots and
> supports Dual-Channel Memory Mode if you put 2 or 4 more or less
> identical cards in.  I have two choices.
>
> A. 2560 MB of RAM in Single-Channel Memory Mode (according to the
>   BIOS), consisting of 3 × 512 MB + 1 × 1024 MB.
>
> B. 2048 MB of RAM in Dual-Channel Memory Mode, consisting of 4 × 512
>   GB.  The motherboard manual seems to indicate that all 4 cards must
>   be exactly identical for Dual-Channel to work, but the BIOS says
>   it's in Dual-Channel even though there are 2 pairs of identical
>   cards that are not identical to each other (different manufacturers
>   and speeds --- the system seems to treat all 4 as having the speed
>   of the lower 2).
>
>
> Will A or B give me better performance?

1 - The difference between SC and DC may be marginal. Check:

http://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=dual+channel+ram+vs+single+channel&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gl=uk

3 - So, probably option A is better.

2 - In any case remember to memtest each of your chips for errors then
all together.


-- 
Lucio M. Nicolosi, Eng.
Open Source Implementation
System and Applications
GNU/Linux - Ubuntu