What is dual channel memory?

[guitarplyrstevo]

Ive been wondering whats the difference between dual channel memory and the other kinds of memory (not sure what they are called). I know if you have dual channel memory, you need to correspond the colors on the motherboard, but other than that, what is the difference?

 

[Sora]

Dual channel just means two sticks of ram running at the same speed to increase data transfer. Basically the bus width that RAM transfers is 64-bit and when on Dual Channel it becomes 128-bit. The colors on mobos are just used to help the buyer know which slots are Dual Channel. Usually its 1,3 and 2,4 for Dual channel however mobos are different.

You would think this would make ram twice as fast but not really, I ran single channel for 2 months with a single stick and then when i got a second stick I noticed no difference with dual channel.