Dual Channel and another Stick

[royalk4]

I have an ASUS Board that only have 3 DIMM slots for RAM. RIght now I have 1GB Dual Channel (2x512) and wanted to upgrade to either 1.5 or 2GB or Ram. My question was does the timing of the RAM have to be the same? The CAS would be but since it's dual channeled it has timing that I only see in other dual channels. Adding another gig of Dual channel is not an option as of the 3 slots. If I added just a 512 stick at the same CAS would it be a significant upgrade or would it detract from the dual channel? If you have some running dual channel and one running single channel is that possible also or do most MObos not recognize the difference?

 

[shenlingstyle]

I really don't what know what your're asking, but here's what I know:

Some ASUS boards, like mine, can preserve dual channel mode if you add in another single channel stick. My board also has three slots, as with all nForce2 chipsets do I believe. And no, you don't really have to worry about timings, they don't have to be identical.

Depending what RAM you already have and what RAM you're adding, you may or may not notice a difference. Chances are you will, if your RAM models are similar.

 

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

dual channel has to have 2 sticks to utilize the feature. Adding a 3rd stick almost always reverts all ram to single channel operating.

On the other hand, adding more ram will increase performace, even if you're not utilizing dual channel capability. Dual channel adds something like 30% increase in memory performance. If you add 50% or 100% more ram, then you're going to see better performance despite the loss of dual channel. Are you sure you have the dual channel feature anyway? Usually there are 2 or 4 dimm slots on motherboards that support processors that support dual channel.

Ryan