Dual duals?

[siriusb]

I am going to buy 1gb of ddr400 for my mobo. Can anyone tell me whether adding a 256x4 combo will increase performance than a 512x2 combo? (Don't worry about upgradablity problem with 256x4, but point any cost and perf problems, if any)

[mohit]

go for 2*512 ddr 400 from kingston/corsair/zion ... buying 4 modules of 256 will be costly as well as there will be more heat generated. i dont think there will be any perfomance difference in both the setups.

[siriusb]

Hmmm...You are right about the heat and cost problems. And now I realize: the mobo/cpu mem controller will not automatically become a 4chan one if I add more sticks to it. It will still be a 2channel one. Right?

[rohanbee]

The best option is actually going in for a single dimm of 1024mb...........might be more expensive but will give excellent response time.

[siriusb]

A single 1024 stick? But that isn't dual channel. You sure it is better?

[deathvirus_me]

2x512mb .... will perform better if the timings are lowered a bit .. and there will also remain a scope to upgrade to another 2x512mb when the time comes

[magnet]

putting 2 rams of same speand and mb size means.....we r directly running it in dual mode...or some settings change in bios need to b done????

[rachitboom2]

Shurely 2*512 MB RAM will be the best bet if they are exactly of the same type and kind(Timings, company,Etc.) !!!

[mamba]

Originally Posted by siriusb

Hmmm...You are right about the heat and cost problems. And now I realize: the mobo/cpu mem controller will not automatically become a 4chan one if I add more sticks to it. It will still be a 2channel one. Right?

the term is ' dual channel ' . even if u run 4 256 mb sticks , the alternate 1z ( acc 2 the color coding of the ram slots ) will run in dual channel mode

always go 4 2 sticks , whatever total memory u require

[krishnathelord]

Originally Posted by magnet

putting 2 rams of same speand and mb size means.....we r directly running it in dual mode...or some settings change in bios need to b done????

not always
it all depends on ur mobo
in some case it is default is u use same color slots

[rachitboom2]

Originally Posted by krishnathelord

not always
it all depends on ur mobo
in some case it is default is u use same color slots

Hey dude all of the mobos since 2003 support it !!!

[siriusb]

Don't it also depend on the processor's fsb?

[indro]

Hey !

Two things ,

1. If you add 4*256 mb it may fill up all your dimm slots , but that will not mean that you will get more performance ,because the memory controller either supports 128 bit (DUAL) or 64 bit (Single) ,So what it comes down to is , two dimm pairs working in dual channel mode .If 4 dimms would have had independent channels ,then there would have been a 256 mbit interface , So instead of 3.2 gbps * 2 = 6.4 gbps in theory , you would have got 3.2 gbps * 4 = 12.8 gbps . 256 bit interface are only present in g-cards as of now .

2. If you do want to pump up the speed , you can buy memory with CAS Latency timings as low as 2-2-2-2-3 .

Hope this answers everything

[supersaiyan]

i think that it would be wise to go for 2*512mb to take advantage of the dual channel feature. i wanna ask something too? is there any considerable increase on performance of one uses the dual channel feature. any examples?

[indro]

Yes , there is , but only in memory intensive applications , specially math and FPU calculations where the operation has to take place in memory and cache of procesor . Encoding etc , somewhat increases processor performance as well .

Its evidient from the fact that , in DUAL channel , the CPU opens up a wider interface to talk to the memory right ? So when the normal 64 bit
(channel) is crossed , 128 bit comes in .

Hopes thats what u are asking !

[rachitboom2]

Originally Posted by indro

Yes , there is , but only in memory intensive applications , specially math and FPU calculations where the operation has to take place in memory and cache of procesor . Encoding etc , somewhat increases processor performance as well .

Its evidient from the fact that , in DUAL channel , the CPU opens up a wider interface to talk to the memory right ? So when the normal 64 bit
(channel) is crossed , 128 bit comes in .

Hopes thats what u are asking !

Hey cool dude where did you get that information ???