Question on DIMM's

[Him]

I've read quirte a few times recently, that, from what I am gathering, loading all of your DIMM memory banks actually impedes performance. Would this mean that having some open memory slots is actually advisable? Am I just understanding this wrong? Please advise Him.

 

[Trifid]

I have all my DIMM slots used (2x 512 and 2x 256 for a total of 1.5gb) From what I have heard, it will give you a very small boost in performance having 2 x 512 than having 4x 256, as it doesn't have to go to the other 2 slots when it runs out of memory on the first sticks. But it is not a huge gain from having the fewer sticks.

 

[ShoobieRat]

It actually depends on the ability of your RAM, and some specs of your mobo.

If you're going to load up all your slots, you should go for the fastest RAM you can get, with the lowest latencies. Dual-channel doesn't really help as much, here. Also, the smaller the chips, the better the performance of the RAM (but of course the less RAM you have so the less performance of your machine).

 

[Him]

...with the lowest latencies.

I'm having some difficulty understanding the whole latency thing. What exactly is Latency? The speed at which the ram is accessed? I have asked you this before Shoobie, and you have sent me to the OCing How to in the oc thread, but I still have questions. Do you think you could explain to me a little bit about timings?

What they stand for, etc... You dont need to completely hold my hand and explain it to me in laymens terms, I'm just not keene on the subject of. Thanks man.