Dual Channel or Better RAM?

[Bagheera786]

I'm upgrading to an Epox 8rda+, and I'm wondering what RAM to buy. I think I need at least 512MB, that still leaves a lot of questions. I'm planning to go with Corsair, hoping to take advantage of the great memory timings that the 8rda+ makes possible.

Should I use one 512MB stick or 2 256MB sticks? If I'm using the XMS2700 RAM in both instances, will I see better performance in one situation or the other? Alternately, since one stick of RAM is cheaper than two, would my best option be to buy 512 of XMS3200 (I will be overclocking, but I'm not sure how far beyond 333 I want to go - this will be my first overclocking attempt)?

 

[Bagheera786]

 

[arcenite]

If I understand Dual Channel correctly, if you put it 2x 256mb chips in Dual Channel Array, then your system would only make use of 256mb. So it depends on what is more important I guess, more speed or higher capacity.

Bill

 

[RSMemphis]

No, dual channel is not a RAID 1. (mirroring)

The idea is more that if you play a game, the level information could be on one RAM module, the textures on the other one. You can now access both at the same time.
This is why dual channel is never twice as fast, because inadvertantely, you need something from the same module at the same time.

I think net gains from an asynchronous bus are small, and true 333FSB specification asks for the memory to run at 333 as well. As such, I would look into buying PC2700 RAM that can run with agressive settings, and maybe look towards a dual channel solution - it does seem to help as benchmarks show.

 

[CraigRT]

If you are getting an 8RDA+ make sure you get 2 sticks of DDR, 2x256 is good.

I would also get at least PC2700 so you can overclock. (unless you have an XP2700 or more)

 

[Bagheera786]

cool. thanks y'all. so I should definetely go with 2 sticks of something, and the performance gain comes from the ability of dual channel to access the different banks at the same time, right?

I will certainly get at least PC2700, but while I'm on the subject, RSMemphis mentioned aggressive settings. Anandtech's review of the 8rda+ mentioned that it could run really aggressive RAM timings. Do y'all think that Corsair's XMS2700 will run at the listed timings? Or do I need the XMS3200 to garauntee those timings?

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

Originally posted by: Bagheera786
cool. thanks y'all. so I should definetely go with 2 sticks of something, and the performance gain comes from the ability of dual channel to access the different banks at the same time, right?

I will certainly get at least PC2700, but while I'm on the subject, RSMemphis mentioned aggressive settings. Anandtech's review of the 8rda+ mentioned that it could run really aggressive RAM timings. Do y'all think that Corsair's XMS2700 will run at the listed timings? Or do I need the XMS3200 to garauntee those timings?

if you get advertised cas2 ram, then it should (most likely) take the aggressive timings

think of dual channel ddr as raid0 for your hds....xcept now its for your ram
data gets split into 2 chunks, one is sent to each dimm
theorteticaly, the bandwidth doubles

 

[arcenite]

Thanks for clearing that up mempthis

Bill