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Lok1GT
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DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:20 pm

Shopping around for new PC build.
I want 4 gb of ram in it now, without care of future upgrade possibilities.

Question 1;
I was told that two 2gb dimms would be faster than four 1gb dimms.
Is that a myth?
If not, can someone back this up with a report or article, other than, "oh yeah, i heard that too."

Question 2;
If 4x1gb is slower than 2x2gb...
Then, will the effect of splitting them into 4 make 4x1gb 1066mhz slower than 2x2gb 800mhz?
 
Nitrodist
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:45 pm

Lok1GT wrote:
Shopping around for new PC build.
I want 4 gb of ram in it now, without care of future upgrade possibilities.

Question 1;
I was told that two 2gb dimms would be faster than four 1gb dimms.
Is that a myth?
If not, can someone back this up with a report or article, other than, "oh yeah, i heard that too."

Question 2;
If 4x1gb is slower than 2x2gb...
Then, will the effect of splitting them into 4 make 4x1gb 1066mhz slower than 2x2gb 800mhz?


RAM operating at a higher frequency will always, always, always, be "faster" than slower frequencies.

Using a 2x2 configuration would give you more room in the area of upgrading to more ram later and overclocking the ram. However, if you get the 1066 ram, then there's pretty much no need to overclock. Heck, even DDR2-800 is good enough for 95% of gamers.
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Jakubgt
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:56 pm

4x4 setup is also a little bit harsher on your NB
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Nitrodist
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:39 pm

Jakubgt wrote:
4x4 setup is also a little bit harsher on your NB


I'd gladly take a 16GiB configuration over a 4GiB configuration anyday!

On another note, this topic is a couple of months old :D
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Nvidiafanboy
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:29 am

1066mhz ram YUM!!
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:35 am

Nvidiafanboy wrote:
1066mhz ram YUM!!


I never knew 1066mhz ram was yummy :roll:


:lol: :lol: :lol: j/k ;)

On topic, my vote goes to 2x2gb ram sticks, you get more head room to add extra ram and NB is not overloaded with 2 slots still being free..(Assuming that mobo has 4 ram slots here)
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:09 am

Oh it is its delicious
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:41 am

Jigar2speed5095 wrote:
On topic, my vote goes to 2x2gb ram sticks, you get more head room to add extra ram and NB is not overloaded with 2 slots still being free..(Assuming that mobo has 4 ram slots here)


Well it depends on what the MB supports. There are a few out there that don't handle the 2GB ram sticks well. In that case it would be better to go with the 4x1GB.
 
Nvidiafanboy
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:43 am

If I was you go for the 2x 2GB so you can have room to upgrade to 8GB if you like
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sdack
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Thu May 01, 2008 3:55 am

If I understand you correctly then the option here is between 4x1GB DDR2-1066 and 2x2GB DDR2-800.

Do you really need 4GB now? If you know you have a need for a lot of RAM you should go with 2x2GB and it will be cheaper for you to add even more memory. If you do not have a need for 4GB but could do with just 2GB then you should take 2x1GB DDR2-1066. These are a bit cheaper and faster, and you can upgrade to 2x2GB or 4x2GB DDR2-1066 with only a little loss later.
 
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Thu May 01, 2008 5:21 am

sdack wrote:
If you do not have a need for 4GB but could do with just 2GB then you should take 2x1GB DDR2-1066. These are a bit cheaper and faster, and you can upgrade to 2x2GB or 4x2GB DDR2-1066 with only a little loss later.

That is, if you can overclock your FSB to 533 MHz to make use of the extra headroom, right? DDR2-800 already has enough overclocking potential. Would recommend the 2x2, as RAM is cheap. :)
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sdack
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Thu May 01, 2008 6:28 am

That is, if you can overclock your FSB to 533 MHz to make use of the extra headroom, right? DDR2-800 already has enough overclocking potential. Would recommend the 2x2, as RAM is cheap. :)

No, this has nothing to do with overclocking. DDR2-1066 (or PC8500) is for some CPUs the standard. The new Phenoms for example support it.

And with 1066MHz being the next standard you will find less overclocking potential in the 800MHz modules as these will be sold as 1066MHz of course. And even the 1066MHz will be hard to overclock because almost all the manufacturers sell even faster modules.
DDR2-1066 with a CL5 is then faster than DDR2-800 with a CL4 if you care about the math. Checkout Tom's Hardware for their recent comparision of various memory types.
 
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Thu May 01, 2008 7:11 am

sdack wrote:
That is, if you can overclock your FSB to 533 MHz to make use of the extra headroom, right? DDR2-800 already has enough overclocking potential. Would recommend the 2x2, as RAM is cheap. :)

No, this has nothing to do with overclocking. DDR2-1066 (or PC8500) is for some CPUs the standard. The new Phenoms for example support it.
If the OP was talking about Intel CPUs then DDR2-800 still gives decent headroom (unless you are running the QX9775).

sdack wrote:
And with 1066MHz being the next standard you will find less overclocking potential in the 800MHz modules as these will be sold as 1066MHz of course. And even the 1066MHz will be hard to overclock because almost all the manufacturers sell even faster modules.
AFAIK 1066 will never be a JEDEC standard? I could be wrong though. I am thinking this is a similar situation to DDR1 where it never got past 400 standard wise. Individual vendor supporting the speed is another story of course.

sdack wrote:
DDR2-1066 with a CL5 is then faster than DDR2-800 with a CL4 if you care about the math. Checkout Tom's Hardware for their recent comparision of various memory types.
The site we don't dare to name? ok :roll:
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sdack
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Thu May 01, 2008 7:55 am

The site we don't dare to name? ok :roll:

What is your problem? You do not know Tom's Hardware or do you need a link to get there?

Here, have a link, son. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-speed-tests,1807.html
 
Flying Fox
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Thu May 01, 2008 8:14 am

That site, for most of us, is just for laughs. :P
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Thu May 01, 2008 8:28 am

sdack wrote:
The site we don't dare to name? ok :roll:

What is your problem? You do not know Tom's Hardware or do you need a link to get there?

Here, have a link, son. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-speed-tests,1807.html


Welcome to TR mate .... you can link any site in TR forums, but t0msh@rdw@re..
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sdack
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Re: DDR2 - 4x1gb or 2x2gb?

Thu May 01, 2008 8:43 am

Yes? Just go ahead and tell me about it. So far I am having a laugh over the responses you are making ;-). Teach me if you dare!

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