RAM Question

[Redundant]

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to having 1 GB (2 x 512 MB) compared to 1 GB (1 x 1 GB) besides having an extra RAM slot? Does the "Dual Channel" feature in a set of two make it faster?

Also, why is the Latency of DDR2 so much higher than that of DDR1?

[.Maleficus.]

Yes, I believe dual-channel is better.

No idea why timings are different between DDR and DDR2 though.

[progbuddy]

Dual channel has, obviously, twice the number of contacts. This speeds up loading/unloading time of RAM.

[Redundant]

Ok, so now that I know that Dual-channel is faster, is lower latency more important or higher speed? Here are the two I'm comparing:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145566

What do they mean by SLI memory?

[dgrmkrp]

think of this.. what is the speed? why is it measured in mhz?.. we must look at the hz part.. 1 hz is one cycle/second... lots of this cycles naturally take place in a ram module, but before these can be considered data transfers, the memory controller sends querys and bla bla.. i don't know too much.. but these commands take cycles and that's what they mean by latencies: how fast does your memory respond.. when latencies add up, it sometimes is better to have tight latencies vs "speed"... given the same frequency, of course better latencies are better.. but in some cases (ddr400 2-2-2-5 vs old ddr2 no-name memory at 533mhz), latencies make a huge difference even between different models with different speeds..
dual channel offers higher bandwidth(2x)... that's why we think dual channel faster plus, the memory controller works in a more efficient way.. and the entire memory-subsytem is better than nondualchannel

[CanaBalistic]

Well... 2 sticks of ram wont give you dual channel. You need 4 sticks for dual channel to work.

[DaveW]

Yes it will. You can run 2 sticks in Dual channel, or 3 sticks with 2 in dual channel, or 4 sticks with matched 2 in dual channel...etc.

All you need is the exact same RAM.

-Dave

[Cevinzol]

Read the articles listed in this page
http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/index.html
specificaly:
beginners_guide_to_motherboard_selection
tight_timings_vs_high_clock_frequencies
navigating_the_memory_upgrade_jungle
and
how_much_ram_do_you_really_need
though the last one is a little old

'n joy

[MitaPi]

Just to throw this in here... I might be wrong so someone correct me if I am. I think slug toy actually told me this a little while ago...

Having, lets say "DDR2 1000" with "cas latency 4" would be better than having "DDR2 677" with "cas latency 3". The higher clock speeds make up for the higher latency. You want high clock speeds (DDR2 1000) with low cas latency when you are looking at ram modules.

... I think. lol sorry slug, I think I was spacing out when you explained it to me ^_^

Some good memory I recently looked at were the Mushkin Redline series. You can buy them as 512's or as 1GB's. I personally would go with the four 512's for costs sake. But if you want the super good stuff and you have the money to buy it. Then go for the 1GB version.

...Which is around $450 for two 1GB modules. Saves you two spots and gives you 2GB's. Pretty sweet. But also very pricey.

Happy Modding,

EDIT:
I personally would go with the DDR2 675 version of those corsair's you listed. But that might be just me.

[Redundant]

After reading the "Tight Timings vs High Clock Frequencies", it appears there is not much of a difference but I did not understand a majority of the article...

MitaPi, why would you prefer the DDR2 675? Does it have something to do with the SLI Ready label in the picture?