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

[NoOp]

On 04/27/2011 05:04 AM, Adam Funk 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?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> 

Worth a read.

<http://www.kingston.com/newtech/mkf_520ddrwhitepaper.pdf>