Dual channel RAM

[smartech]

Hi. My friend's computer has 256 MB of DDR on single chip. He want to bye more, but he doubts between 256 and 512 MB chip. I think thak He better add 512 MB more, but my question is: will it be able to run on dual channel while he has two chips with different size. And also , if you can, explain how actually this "dual technology" works.

Thanks.
-AndreiD

 

[EricB]

no you need 2 of the exact same chip

 

[Nubius]

The CPU is able to access both sticks of memory at the same time since one stick is on channel A and the other is on Channl B thus creating DUAL channel. Works a lot more efficiently that one stick at a time, just like if you had two hard drives and configured them in a RAID array.

Like eric said you need 2 sticks of the exact size, speed, and maker for dual channel to work. And even then sometimes when you buy the sticks seperate from each other like months difference it still won't work based on tiny differences. Could just be the luck of the draw

 

[smartech]

Sounds sad news, but thanks anyway.