Dual channel with 3 sticks of RAM?

[Klaevin]

My computer has 16 GB of memory with 2x8 sticks. I was just given a single stick of 16 GB.

Could I put the 2x8GB sticks together on the first channel and the 1x16 stick on the other, and get all the benefits of dual channel memory but no drawbacks of mixing and matching sticks?

[Chris Pratt]

Adding a third stick doesn't affect it being dual channel still, but there may be other issues. It depends on the RAM configuration involved. Do they have the same clockspeed and timings as your current RAM? What's the brands and models?

[curiousmind34]

Here is a very similar thread. I see no harm in trying. Benchmark it and if you lose performance then you can take it out.

[GorujoCY]

2x8 is already dual channel and consumer cpus to this day sounds like it wont go further than dual channel, so adding a 16GB might have an improvement for some workloads but the pc will still run in dual channel. Keep in mind that mixing ram is a little bit of a gamble so make sure it's a fairly identical stick by specs.
For most of the times you wont notice any difference at all.

[rcmaehl]

I'm not sure Dual Channel Asymmetric mode is still a thing anymore. It might be though.

[Klaevin]

since starting this thread, I have downloaded CPU-Z and I can cinfirm that it runs in dual channel. furthermore, all the sticks run at 2666MHz and I don't know how I would find out anything else about the kits. anyway, doesn't it always default to the slowest of anythings? and so mixing and matching would just mean that I lose performance...

The new RAM stick is corsair vengeance and the two old ones are crucial... I don't remember and don't feel like opening up my computer again to see... but they don't have a heat spreader