Does Athlon 64 3500+ use dual channel DDR?

[Yoshi64]

I just noticed that I put my two DDR-sticks in the same channel on my mainboard (Nforce4 ultra). But I seem to remember that A64 can't utilize dual channel DDR anyway?
But that was maybe only valid for the first versions of the A64, and not the S939 ones?

 

[StrangerGuy]

Every S939 CPU supports dual-channel DDR.

In order to use dual-channel, you cannot just simply plug in any two sticks and expect it to work.

At the bare minimum, both sticks must be either single or double-sided, and have the same capacity and placed in the correct slots. Dual channel RAM kits are not necessary, but they are guaranteed to work in dual-channel mode.

BTW anyone know whether S939 CPUs supports "unbalanced" dual-channel mode?

 

[bob4432]

skt754 - no dual channel
skt939 - dual channel

 

[StinkyPinky]

Just how much of a difference does dual channel make to performance anyway?

 

[StrangerGuy]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Just how much of a difference does dual channel make to performance anyway?

~5% for A64s.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: bob4432
skt754 - no dual channel
skt939 - dual channel

 

[StinkyPinky]

Not huge then. Another question...possibly a n00b question. Can I have three sticks of ram in a 4 slot motherboard that supports dual channel? Or does it have to be 2 sticks or 4 sticks....no odd numbers??

 

[Away]

Even number of equal sticks.

 

[deathwalker]

Most test show marginal performance improvement with DC memory. The most noticable improvement in the use of DC memory comes when using it in conjuction with Integrated Graphics solutions.

 

[furballi]

Bump your CPU core speed by about 40MHz if you want to overcome the lack of dual channel.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: bob4432
skt754 - no dual channel
skt939 - dual channel

i think it would be mroe than a 5% upgrade but it definitely won't give you double the performance.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: bob4432
skt754 - no dual channel
skt939 - dual channel

i think it would be mroe than a 5% upgrade but it definitely won't give you double the performance.

i am not saying it will double the performance, i am just saying that the 939s do support dual channel, which will give ~5-7% increase.

 

[furballi]

Should be less than 5%. I've tested the 754 Sempron and 939 A64 at 2.0GHz (same multiplier, RAM settings, etc...). The Sempron rig requires another 150MHz core speed to match the performance of the A64 rig. Note that the 939 rig has dual channel, twice the CPU cache, and other refinements.