Memory:What's faster?

[verve247]

This pertains to dual channel memory (PC3200). What would be faster, 2 sticks of 512mb or 4 sticks of 256mb? And i would like to hear your reasoning.

[Nija]

Originally posted by verve247
This pertains to dual channel memory (PC3200). What would be faster, 2 sticks of 512mb or 4 sticks of 256mb? And i would like to hear your reasoning.

2 sticks of 512.

You can only use two slot when doing dual channel (like slots 1,2 or 1,3)

[Nija]

Originally posted by DarkFury

You sure about that?

Yes, I agree... 2 sticks of 512 is generally faster than 4 sticks of 256, however if you had 4 sticks of 512, what would stop you from using dual channel with 2 GBs of memory (as long as all 4 sticks were matched/identical)?

2 slots used is the MIMIMUM to obtain dual channel mode... if you go down to 1 slot, you default back to 400Mhz single channel mode.

Here is a refrerence from Anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.html?i=1839&p=1

Actually I'm just going off of what my board does. It has 3 slots, and you can only use dual channel in 1,3 or 1,2. I guess I should have said that. oops

[bachviet]

2x512MB is better than 4x256MB. More sticks mean more chance to have error.

[verve247]

Right now i have 2 sticks of 256mb. According to DF's article (good find), I would be better off with 2 more sticks of 256mb than 2 more of 512mb.

Nija, my board is the 875p and has 4 slots for dual channel.

[ribitch]

Originally posted by Nija


2 sticks of 512.

You can only use two slot when doing dual channel (like slots 1,2 or 1,3)

on my g5, i have 4 slots for dual channel operation. If i would have the dual cps model, i would have 8 slots for dual channel operation

[ribitch]

Originally posted by DarkFury

Why do you always bring your "apple" in to a PC discussion...

EDIT: maybe you thought this was a "memory in general" question... If so... pardon the interruption.

Apple technically is a PC, just doesnt run windows. The thread is on memory operation in general. Dual channel DDR is dual channel DDR regardless of OS.

I stated what my "apple" was like to show another system that doesnt have any odd limitation to the number of slots that dual channel operation can use.

[Showtime]

I didnt read all the posts. The latest news Ive read is the ideal config for 1gig of memory is with 4 single sided 256mg ram sticks.

-jel

[Showtime]

Anandtech... will find it for ya ASAP.

-jel

[verve247]

Originally posted by the jello is jigglin
Anandtech... will find it for ya ASAP.

I'd appreciate that. Darkfury that part of your article I was focusing on was the decreased efficiency in mixed memory chips. Since i already have 2 256mb sticks, i was deciding whether to go to a total 1GB or 1.5GB. It seems i should either replace my 256 for 2 512 sticks (giving me future upgrade options) or just add 2 more 256mb sticks. I'm thinking of going with the latter since it is also cheaper and I don't see the great benefit of 1.5GB vs. 1 GB

Ribitch , I think Nija has a unique board. The more common 875p board can hold 4 1GB sticks of dual channel memory.

[Nija]

Originally posted by verve247

Ribitch , I think Nija has a unique board. The more common 875p board can hold 4 1GB sticks of dual channel memory.

I have the original version of this board. So my version is obviously out-of-date.