Dual-channel 2 GB vs Mixed 3 GB

[djdelarosa25]

What would offer better performance?

 

Two 1 GB Kingston DDR2-667 PC2-5300 running in dual-channel mode, or

 

One 2 GB Kingston DDR2-800 PC2-6400 and one 1 GB Kingston DDR2-667 PC2-5300 mixed RAM?

[don_svetlio]

Go for 3GB, 2 ain't really enough for anything anymore

[SaladFingers]

What would offer better performance?

 

Two 1 GB Kingston DDR2-667 PC2-5300 running in dual-channel mode, or

 

One 2 GB Kingston DDR2-800 PC2-6400 and one 1 GB Kingston DDR2-667 PC2-5300 mixed RAM?

 

If you put the DDR2-800 sticks together with the DDR2-667, all will be running at 667. So you would essentially be bottlenecking your DDR2-800 sticks.

 

In reality though, the difference is more than negligible especially when talking about DDR2. Just put it all in to have 1 extra gigabyte of memory and see if they all play well.

 

PS: You can still run them in dual channel even if you put all 3 in (at least in most motherboards, run the two in dual and the other one single). You will be just limited to 667mhz.

[djdelarosa25]

If you put the DDR2-800 sticks together with the DDR2-667, all will be running at 667. So you would essentially be bottlenecking your DDR2-800 sticks.

 

In reality though, the difference is more than negligible especially when talking about DDR2. Just put it all in to have 1 extra gigabyte of memory and see if they all play well.

 

PS: You can still run them in dual channel even if you put all 3 in (at least in most motherboards, run the two in dual and the other one single). You will be just limited to 667mhz.

Mobo only supports 2 RAM slots (I'm poor)

[SaladFingers]

Mobo only supports 2 RAM slots (I'm poor)

 

Oh I misread your post. I thought you meant 2 DDR2-800 x 1gb and 1 DDR2-667 x 1gb.

 

So yeah, you probably can't have them running in dual channel mode in your second config. May I ask what your budget is? And also what OS are you running? Is it 32-bit? I would go at least 2x2gb if I were you.  In large RAM builds dual/quad channel might not matter much, but for 2-4gb it could actually be noticeable. I can't test it atm though, so I'm just making assumptions.

[Sakkura]

With a stick of 2GB and a stick of 1GB, it should run in flex mode, essentially like having 2GB of memory in dual channel and the rest in single channel.