Dual Channel Mode with 3Gb (1Gb + 2Gb DDR2) with Windows 7 32Bit?

[UseItNow]

Hello folks,

Basically, I'm aware there is the limit of Windows not utilising 4Gb fully if 32bit is used but as I'm using it for a Media Centre I'd like to know would the DDR2 (or DDR3, if I go Clarkdale) memory run in Dual Channel mode if I was to use one stick of 1Gb and another of 2Gb in size?

If not, I'll stick to my 2Gb for the moment, thank you for your help in advance.

[GoNz0]

afaik they have to be the same size for dual channel

[kalniel]

Hello folks,

Basically, I'm aware there is the limit of Windows not utilising 4Gb fully if 32bit is used but as I'm using it for a Media Centre I'd like to know would the DDR2 (or DDR3, if I go Clarkdale) memory run in Dual Channel mode if I was to use one stick of 1Gb and another of 2Gb in size?

Nope. But you can use 2x1GB and 2x512GB to get 3GB of dual channel.

[GoNz0]

the price of it you may as well get 4gb

[UseItNow]

afaik they have to be the same size for dual channel

Okay, didn't know that, thanks.

Nope. But you can use 2x1GB and 2x512GB to get 3GB of dual channel.

Good to know mate, another option I guess, thanks.

the price of it you may as well get 4gb

It's not about price, already have a 4Gb kit in use in another rig that's barely used, so could swap it out.
However, I wondering if there would be any issues/annoyances from installing 4Gb and then using a 32bit OS (windows 7), in other words would it cause hiccups/stable running of the system in daily use. Maybe I'm talking through my arse and the 32bit OS will basically ignore the 4Gb and run it as 3.something Gb in dual-channel mode, in which case I'll be happy as it'll be running the memory (PC2-8500) at full speed although not utilising the full capacity.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

However, I wondering if there would be any issues/annoyances from installing 4Gb and then using a 32bit OS (windows 7), in other words would it cause hiccups/stable running of the system in daily use. Maybe I'm talking through my arse and the 32bit OS will basically ignore the 4Gb and run it as 3.something Gb in dual-channel mode, in which case I'll be happy as it'll be running the memory (PC2-8500) at full speed although not utilising the full capacity.

There are no issues AFAIK. My computer has 4GB of RAM but I only had the 32bit XP to hand at the time and I did not install 64bit Vista at the time either as it was new and I was not certain of how good the driver support was going to be!!!

With a 512MB graphics card the OS sees 3.25GB of RAM and everything is fine. I have run 32bit Windows 7 RC1 too on the same system and it worked perfectly OK.

[UseItNow]

There are no issues AFAIK. My computer has 4GB of RAM but I only had the 32bit XP to hand at the time and I did not install 64bit Vista at the time either as it was new and I was not certain of how good the driver support was going to be!!!

With a 512MB graphics card the OS sees 3.25GB of RAM and everything is fine. I have run 32bit Windows 7 RC1 too on the same system and it worked perfectly OK.

Thank you mate! 4Gb it is then!

[Pob255]

Yep no issues just the extra will not get used, how much you get will depend on the other components, esp graphics card.

[jim]

Dual channel doesn't even make much difference IIRC

[kungpo]

Dual channel doesn't even make much difference IIRC

I'm with Snootyjim - I can't say the difference is at all noticable. Probably only seen via benchmarks.

[watercooled]

You can run different quantities of RAM in dual channel on some motherboards, just it will be like this - 1GB from each module in dual channel and the remaining 1GB from the 2GB module will be single channel. There shouldn't be any problems running 2x2GB on 32-bit though but as you said your computer won't see all of it.

[UseItNow]

Thank you all for providing me with a better understanding, thanks again.