Question about ram ?????

[Gary R.]

I need some technical opinions or experiences here.  What is better?  To have 1 gig of ram in two 512 sticks in two different clips or to have a single 1 gig module in one clip???  Basically is it better to have the most ram in the fewest clips than to have an equal amount in smaller modules spread among separate clips???

[Gixer]

Depends if you can dual channel it.  This is somthing some mobos do.  If you can Dual Channel get two sticks of 512, if you cant then just the one stick of 1gig will be fine.

[Gary R.]

Well, I don't know about dual channeling or how to find out if my mobo does it.  I currently have a 512 stick and two 256's.  My mobo has 3 ram clips.  Can support up to 3 gigs.  I was just wondering if I would be better off trading the 2 256's in for a single 512 in that clip. I would like to learn about dual channeling and how to determine if my mobo has it though.  I would like to learn how I can aquire advanced hardware education while still working 10 hours a day and being a husband and keeping a home going, lol.  Time is the rarest and most valuable commodity.  Thanks

[Gixer]

Ah thats easy!

When your woman decides to get all cuddly  ;) tell her you got a headache and then you can go have a good read instead  ;)

My old mobo that had my AMD XP2800 Barton CPU in it could dual channel.  I had to put one stick of ram in the odd coloured ram slot and the other stick in either of the spare two (though I used the lowest number, i.e. slot1) Mine was an MSI K7n2 Delta ILSR mobo.

Did you get a book with your mobo?  usually it states in the manual whether you can dual channel or not.

[Gary R.]

yes, I have that literature tucked away somewhere, I'll have to root around for it.  Thanks a lot.

[the_autopilot]

Well, I don't know about dual channeling or how to find out if my mobo does it.  I currently have a 512 stick and two 256's.  My mobo has 3 ram clips.  Can support up to 3 gigs.  I was just wondering if I would be better off trading the 2 256's in for a single 512 in that clip. I would like to learn about dual channeling and how to determine if my mobo has it though.  I would like to learn how I can aquire advanced hardware education while still working 10 hours a day and being a husband and keeping a home going, lol.  Time is the rarest and most valuable commodity.  Thanks

Tell us your mobo and we can tel you.

[Gixer]

Its this one:

gigabyte vt600l k7 triton

Got it outta his sig  ;D

[Hawkeye313]

I'd guess that if you only have three slots, then it probably doesn't support dual channel.  In that case go with the single stick.  Make sure you read up in the manual though.  Some motherboards are quirky and don't like certain memory configurations.

[Gixer]

three slots can still dual channel, just means you can only dual channel two slots and not use the thrid.  Usually if it can dual channel on a three slot mobo one slot is a different colour to the other two.