|
Thursday July 17, 2008
|
This question from Phil Ridenour came in for ExtremeTech editor, Loyd Case:
When you addressed the "Which Kind of RAM" question (June 2008), you mentioned that if a PC has four memory slots, you should avoid filling all four of them. Just filling two of them is best. Does this apply to all PCs?
I have a Dell XPS 410 running Windows Vista Ultimate and recently upgraded the RAM to 4GB, filling all slots. I did notice that Windows recognizes only 3,070 MB of RAM, but I believe this is because I am running the 32-bit version of Windows. I saw an improvement in the system after upgrading from 2GB, but I wonder whether filling all four slots gave me a little less return for my investment?
Loyd's reply after the jump:
Loyd's reply:
First, using all four memory sockets is perfectly viable. My production system is currently running four DDR3 memory modules at 1,333 MHz--Kingston sticks rated to run at DDR3-1600. However, you may have to be willing to trade off one speed grade for stability. So you'll need to buy memory rated at a minimum of one speed grade higher than what you plan on running. Even then, some motherboards may force you to run even lower than the standard rating for that board. So your DDR2-800 motherboard will run at DDR2-667 speed no matter how fast the memory module rating.
Some motherboards are extremely sensitive to the number of banks of DRAM, however. Modules with 16 chips (8 on each side) are usually two-bank modules, and some motherboards may support a maximum of six banks of memory. Check your motherboard manual for details on the number of banks it supports.
But let me answer your question more directly: If you're getting better performance and your system is stable, then your investment is doing exactly what it should.
Posted By:
Jared Preusz
|
|
|
Stumble
Digg
del.icio.us
Slashdot
