DDR Memory

[largecar425]

I have a Gigabyte K8NSpro motherboard and was lookin to upgrade my memory.Now my question is will dual channel memory work in a motherboard that does not have dual channel memory capability?

[Maleko]

ive seen them work in the past, dual channel wud run in single channel on a single channel board....but woudlnt it b cheaper just to get single channel? or u thinking of upgrading again?

[At0mic]

There's no such a thing as specific dual channel memory. It's all just normal DDR. It’s just the dual channel capable motherboard that’s special which allows you to put two sticks of DDR in separate and independent 64-bit channels, giving you effectively 128-bit.

I bought a dual channel motherboard myself a few years ago with a single stick of TwinMOS DDR 3200. Last year, I added a second stick of Corsair DDR 3200 and my motherboard reported that it was in Dual Channel Mode.

Of course, it’s always best to use identical sticks when in dual channel mode so a lot of memory manufacturers sell memory in identical pairs (from the same batch in some cases) which they guarantee will work in dual DDR mode but its not special or anything.

Edited February 27, 2006 by At0mic

[largecar425]

I buy all of my hardware from newwegg and it seems that dual chanell is the leasst expensive

[ripken204]

there is no such thing as dual channel memory. your motherboard may be able to run in dual channel but there is nothing special about the memory that makes it dual channel.

you are correct about your motherboard not supporting dual channel and thats b/c its socket 754. that memory will work but it will not be in dual channel.

[largecar425]

So I can basicly buy what I want?

[ripken204]

yes

[nmX.Memnoch]

Basically what ripken means is that your motherboard doesn't have dual channel capability so there will be no performance difference between a single 1GB stick or two 512MB sticks.

[Martin L]

topic from general forum and here merged and cleaned.

[Maleko]

I bought a dual channel motherboard myself a few years ago with a single stick of TwinMOS DDR 3200. Last year, I added a second stick of Corsair DDR 3200 and my motherboard reported that it was in Dual Channel Mode.

I did the exactly same thing with soem Crucial memory, and after a bit it messed up

[nmX.Memnoch]

Sometimes it'll work and sometimes it won't. If the TwinMOS and Corsair memory used the same chips on the PCB then you may not have any problems...but you take a chance on ordering them from different vendors/manufacturers. It's generally recommended to have "matched" sticks in a dual channel config. "Matched" meaning that if one stick is Crucial PC3200 CL2.5 the other stick should be Crucial PC3200 CL2.5.