Can someone tell me if this is correct? My understanding is that for an nforce2 board WITHOUT built-in graphics, there is no advantage to having dual dimms vs just a single dimm memory?
Correct. I think the memory bandwidth provided by one DIMM running at the same speed as the FSB of the Athlon provides the maximum usable bandwidth. Most reviews of the nForce show the effect of the dual channel memory on performance. If there is any benefit, it is marginal when using a graphics card.
Originally posted by: arynn
Correct. I think the memory bandwidth provided by one DIMM running at the same speed as the FSB of the Athlon provides the maximum usable bandwidth. Most reviews of the nForce show the effect of the dual channel memory on performance. If there is any benefit, it is marginal when using a graphics card.
First, Welcome to the AT Forums gja, and like arynn said, there is some benefit but very little in 90% of the apps most people run. The biggest benefit is for the IGP nForce2 boards using the on-board graphics.
yes welcome
no there is no real need for running 2 dimms if you were building from scratch i would recomend buying 2x256 but
if you already have a 512 OR cant afford another 256 at this time i would run one 256
you can always buy another one later
Originally posted by: arynn
Correct. I think the memory bandwidth provided by one DIMM running at the same speed as the FSB of the Athlon provides the maximum usable bandwidth. Most reviews of the nForce show the effect of the dual channel memory on performance. If there is any benefit, it is marginal when using a graphics card.
Yah, right now the XPs simply don't need the extra bandwidth a 128-bit mem interface provides or a 400mhz FSB would provide. There's little increase, <5% and sometimes worse performance in the majority of applications and benchmarks. The XP will need faster clockspeeds before it sees the need for dual-channel or even a 400mhz FSB.
Running dual-channel might be a negative as shown in this page from the AT Nforce2 memory controller performance article The dual-channel set-up can be somewhat picky with what dimms you use, so running in dual-channel may very well limit your FSB as well as your RAM timings, which can have a much more adverse impact on your RAM latency than any benefit from dual-channel DDR.
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