RAM question

[Mac the Knife]

1 stick of 4GB DDR3 or 2 sticks of 2GB DDR2 running in dual channel?

Probably no real-world difference but does anyone one know ?

Mac

[Saab Dastard]

Well I'd choose 2 sticks of 2GB DDR2-1066 (PC2-8500) over 1 stick of 4GB DDR3-800 (PC3-6400) any day, dual-channel or not.

Real world consumer applications / usage don't really gain any significant benefit from dual-channel, so I would look at the underlying speed of the RAM (and the max speed the mobo supports).

But at the same speed / transfer rate, you might as well go for 2 x DDR2, as the RAM is cheaper.

The fastest DDR3 is now twice as fast as the fastest DDR2, so in that situation, dual-channel benefits are utterly insignificant.

SD

[Bushfiva]

For most people there's no real choice, since the DIMMs are physically different. I think SD is sending mixed messages here: I'd also choose fast DDR2 over slow DDR3 as per SD's example, but then I'd also choose fast DDR3 over slow DDR2, and fast DDR3 over slow DDR3. In the real world, I'd be driven by what the CPU/motherboard supports.

[green granite]

If you've only got 2 slots then the advantage of going for 1x4Megs is that you can add another at a later stage to upgrade it to 8megs.................posibly, depends on the mother board architecture.

[Loose rivets]

That's very true, but conversely, should one strip fail, you've got the other one right there to begin diagnostics.

Decisions, decisions.