help on dual channel memory

[letumburn]

im building a new system using 1 gig of corsair dual channel low latency memory and an8 sli motherboard.

my question is if later on i want to use more memory do i need to use two more sticks of dual channel ,or can i use another stick of regular memory and if so how does that affect the performance of the dual memory

first time posting here so let me say up front thanks

 

[SHAWN]

There is no DUAL channel memory. Dual channel is how memory runs.

 

[majistic]

Dual Channel is how memory runs when there are 2 sticks of same kind of memory, such as 2x512 PC3200... but...your motherboard has to support Dual Channel for it to run...Dual Channel is faster than Signel Channel, the memory is working together...

 

[Nubius]

we need a sticky on this....this was just asked like yesterday as well.....however if people would use the search function they cold find it that way as well

 

[HAVOC]

Oh, come-on nubius... You know you love enlightening N00BS to the way of the RAM...

lol

 

[majistic]

This stuff should be some-what common knowledge, that the motherboard needs to support dual channel, that you can't just buy two sticks and have them run dual channel.

 

[digitaloracle]

I beleive if the mobo supports it, you can add two sticks of regular ram in to the two remaining spots (making sure they are in matched pairs) and still have dual channel work. But I don't think one stick will work.

Nubius (or someone that knows what they are doing), enlighten me:
1.) would that config lose the benefit of the nice latencies on the Corsair sticks?
2.) Dual channel simply means the motherboard has two paths for data, giving each stick a full 3.2gbps (or whatever pseed the sticks are) of bandwidth, as opposed to having them all share one 3.2gbps (or whatever the sticks can run at) With four sticks you lose the wider pipe to each module, since two have to share a channel. Is this correct?
4.)If the above is right, then corresponding colors on the ram slots on the board must be run by different channels, correct?
5.)I have heard that sometimes mixing sticks in stange ways can cause instability, even iof the sticks themselves are fine. Are these rumors ture?

 

[Nubius]

1.) would that config lose the benefit of the nice latencies on the Corsair sticks?

the RAM is only going to run as fast as whatever the slowest sticks are....anything faster will be reduced

2.) Dual channel simply means the motherboard has two paths for data, giving each stick a full 3.2gbps (or whatever pseed the sticks are) of bandwidth, as opposed to having them all share one 3.2gbps (or whatever the sticks can run at) With four sticks you lose the wider pipe to each module, since two have to share a channel. Is this correct?

if it's 4x256 comparing to 2x512 it's not going to be any faster just becuase theres more...this is even assuming you manage to get the 4 sticks to actually work in DC together.

trying to put in 4 sticks of different brand and different latencies of memory will just decrease the chances of DC running.

4.)If the above is right, then corresponding colors on the ram slots on the board must be run by different channels, correct?

Generally one color = channel A, the other color = channel B.....however in my DFI board, the orange slots right next to each other are considered 1 & 3, and the yellow slots are 2 & 4, so in my case I need to have them in the same color for dual channel..

Always refer to mobo manual for this.

5.)I have heard that sometimes mixing sticks in stange ways can cause instability, even iof the sticks themselves are fine. Are these rumors ture?

What's considered ' a strange way?'

putting a stick upside down, yeah might cause instability