difference between dual channel and quad channel memory

[tank234]

Is there any noticeable difference by going with a 4x4 config rather then the 8x2 config? just curious  

[minibois]

9 minutes ago, tank234 said:

Is there any noticeable difference by going with a 4x4 config rather then the 8x2 config? just curious  

Depends on the CPU you are using.

With consumer CPU's, they don't support quad channel. That means 4x4GB becomes two sets of dual channel, which would be equal in performance to a 2x8GB set. Although it would be more difficult to reach the higher memory speeds, in particular on Ryzen.

If you are using enthusiast-level CPU's (like X299 or Threadripper), it could be faster, depending on what you do.

[tank234]

15 minutes ago, Benji said:

Noticeable really depends on your workload. If you do heavy video editing you might notice faster RAM, but for general use, no. In general use you even barely notice single-channel to dual-channel RAM.

ok thanks I mainly use it for gaming so won't be seeing much of a improvement there 

[tank234]

10 minutes ago, minibois said:

Depends on the CPU you are using.

With consumer CPU's, they don't support quad channel. That means 4x4GB becomes two sets of dual channel, which would be equal in performance to a 2x8GB set. Although it would be more difficult to reach the higher memory speeds, in particular on Ryzen.

If you are using enthusiast-level CPU's (like X299 or Threadripper), it could be faster, depending on what you do.

alright thanks for the info I have a R5 3600 so i won't be seeing much of a difference then

[mariushm]

Socket AM4 is only dual channel. You have 2 channels, each with up to 2 sticks of memory, depending on memory layout. It's not quad channel, quad channel is Threadripper.

Just saying because I think you're confused and think that having 4 memory slots on motherboard means quad channel, which is not the case.

 

There will be no performance increase or very minimal increase from using 4 memory sticks instead of two, if the total capacity is the same. 

Depending on how the memory sticks have the chips arranged on them (single rank, dual rank etc) in SOME applications that read and write small data very much in ram, there may be a small performance increase using 4 sticks. But it's so little and in so few applications that it's not worth stressing about it.

Some motherboards have a harder time powering 4 memory sticks and handling signals from 4 memory sticks at the same time at very high speeds, so in some cases you would see 2 sticks working at 3600 Mhz but with 4 sticks you may only be able to configure 3200 Mhz or even 3000 Mhz.

[tank234]

3 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Socket AM4 is only dual channel. You have 2 channels, each with up to 2 sticks of memory, depending on memory layout. It's not quad channel, quad channel is Threadripper.

Just saying because I think you're confused and think that having 4 memory slots on motherboard means quad channel, which is not the case.

 

There will be no performance increase or very minimal increase from using 4 memory sticks instead of two, if the total capacity is the same. 

Depending on how the memory sticks have the chips arranged on them (single rank, dual rank etc) in SOME applications that read and write small data very much in ram, there may be a small performance increase using 4 sticks. But it's so little and in so few applications that it's not worth stressing about it.

Some motherboards have a harder time powering 4 memory sticks and handling signals from 4 memory sticks at the same time at very high speeds, so in some cases you would see 2 sticks working at 3600 Mhz but with 4 sticks you may only be able to configure 3200 Mhz or even 3000 Mhz.

oh did not know that thanks