Dual Ram

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Dual Ram

GeekerBeeker

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#39110 9-Aug-2009 13:46

Hi,

First off , sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum.

I just bought a new laptop with 2gig in dual channel mode. I have a spare 1GB stick if I install it will make it 3GB. It's not in dual mode with 3GB though compared to 2GB duel.

Question: will dual mode 2GB run faster/better than 3GB single mode?

cheers

Ragnor

8222 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#244451 9-Aug-2009 15:47

Most motherboards will disable dual channel if there is an odd number of ram sticks. Some don't you might be lucky.

What make and model of laptop?

There's a high chance there won't even be a spare ram slot in your laptop. You also need to consider laptops are usually pretty touchy about ram comparability, mixing different makes/models/speeds can cause stability problems.

d3Xt3r

688 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#245018 10-Aug-2009 23:19

One simple rule to remember when it comes to RAM: More RAM is better than faster RAM.

(Of course, that is when the system can actually benefit by having more RAM, for instance, Vista/7's SuperFetch)

So unless you're looking at squeezing out that extra bit of FPS from games, 3GB single channel is better than 2GB dual.

(Btw, my Sony Vaio has 2GB + 1GB in dual channel mode)

Pskonejott

24 posts

Geek

#245865 12-Aug-2009 23:03

Does your laptop really have 3-4 SO-DIMM slots?

If you've got a single 2GB stick it can't be in dual channel mode anyway...

jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#253823 7-Sep-2009 19:10

Best bet dude is to download belarc advisor (www.belarc.com/free_download.html) and run it against your laptop. Post the results here and we will be able to tell you exactly whether what you want to do will work or not.

The other thing to remember with RAM is how much of it will you be using? IE if you are only using 1GB max then you are better off having that running as fast as you can rather than having 2-3GB running slower.