How many sticks does it take to make me happy?

HA!

So I recently came across some disposable income (AKA Merry Xmas to me) and thought to myself, hmmmmmm, new computer chair? New GPU? Orrrrrrr how about we fill up my RAM slots!!!

I went to Bing, popped in Kingston HyperX 1600 DDR3 and went surfing. Came across an AWESOME deal in the amazon where they were selling what appeared to be my RAM for $75.99. It had a few extra letters and numbers though so I paused for a moment and then took a wave over to Kingston's site where I became enlightened. KHX1600C9D3K2/2GETR while similar, was not in fact the part number on my current sticks KHX1600C9D3/2G (checked w/CPU-Z and then manually to confirm). After a quick call to Kingston to figure out what the heck ETR meant(becuase they failed to list that on their site HA!) I determined that the 2x2GB sticks I had were single channel while the K2 designates the amazonian RAM as dual channel and that the ETR is negligible as it just denotes that it is an online sold RAM versus one you could purchase from a physical store.
Now I happened to find my exact RAM reasonably priced directly from Kingston at $42 a 2GB stick. The next day however, the amazonian RAM offered a deal where there is now a $20 mail in rebate on their RAM, which means for ~$90 I could get 2x2GB of the exact RAM I have or for ~$55 I could get 2x2GB of the dual channel.

Now, I know how to properly seat RAM. I know that matching the RAM in pairs exactly is the best way to confirm stability, and that the RAM voltage and such can be adjusted in the bios settings if and when needed. That's where my knowledge stops however. I have never had to adjust the bios settings, I've used 2 1GB sticks and 2 512MB sticks together before and had no issues, and while I have breezed over a few articles and wiki pages I wouldn't even consider myself a novice when it comes to RAM. So I thought I would turn to the wonderful seven forums for some helpful tips, tricks, and guidance before I went any further.

1)Are there known issues with using Dual Channel RAM pairs and Single Channel RAM pairs in combination (e.g. 2x2GB Dual w/ 2x2GB Single)?

2)Would it be worth it in your eyes to ditch the Single Channel RAM completely and go for 4x2GB of the Dual Channel for $150 (with $40 in MIR so really $110) as I've been reading it only adds about ~4% extra performance? I could then sell the 2x2GB RAM (it's had like 4 months of non-O/C use on it) and that would help offset the extra cost as I'm looking at spending ~$90 right now to get the Single RAM from Kingston.

3)A dear friend of mine who uses an i7 mentioned that I would need to up the voltage and probably play with the timing a bit if I added a second pairing of RAM. Is this recommended or even true? I thought AMD CPUs controlled the timings for me, thus saving me the hassle .

PC specs should be below my signature and I can post more info if needed!

Hmmmm maybe I should ask for this to be moved to the performance maintenance section since an hour has gone by and not a single reply has been posted.

JUST LOOKING FOR OPINIONS HERE PEEPS, FEEL FREE TO CHIME IN

I would get four of the same model RAM, regardless of which one you pick. Dual channel enabling my RAM gave me a significant boost, though I would check to see if your RAM is in a dual channel configuration right now.

LiquidSnak said:

I would get four of the same model RAM, regardless of which one you pick. Dual channel enabling my RAM gave me a significant boost, though I would check to see if your RAM is in a dual channel configuration right now.

Alright then. This confirms that at least the Dual channel is a significant increase in power. A couple of sites mentioned in reviews of dual channel memory that they saw minimal increase in performance benchmarks on most applications.

The RAM I currently have is seated properly but is not a dual channel type or kit, if I am using the terms correctly. I feel the same about using exact replicas when it comes to RAM and GPUs so I will probably follow your advice on this.

Any thoughts on voltage adjustment or timing?

My advice is try it and if it ain't broke leave it alone, because once you change it you might make it worse. Always write down exactly what the setting are and what you change them too.

If it were me, and I had the available budget, I would buy 4x2GB sticks of the dual channel ability RAM, and see what increase in performance was gained from that. Overclocking in your mind is cool, but sometimes not worth it.

LiquidSnak said:

If it were me, and I had the available budget, I would buy 4x2GB sticks of the dual channel ability RAM, and see what increase in performance was gained from that. Overclocking in your mind is cool, but sometimes not worth it.

I agree 100% on the O/C issue. I would rather my hardware last for a few more years than the 5-10 FPS I might get from O/Cing something. The way my i7 friend was talking though was that IF I added the second pair, I would need to adjust not only the voltage but the timing as part of the new configuration. This was the first I had heard about this and on a previous machine when I was running 4 sticks I left all the settings the same so maybe it is specific to his MoBo or maybe he isn't as knowledgable as he likes to make himself out to be. Just struck me as odd because whenever I had seen peeps mention adjusting the timing or voltage it was always when O/Cing was involved, not standard installation.

I just noticed that the Kingston website has listed my RAM as backordered until 11/22/2010 so I think I might go ahead and grab the 4 sticks from the amazon

Be sure the ram will work with your motherboard first then if you have to make minor adjustments you can, but i think you said before your friend has been haveing bsod and other prob's so be careful with what he tells you.

Well, one of em runs an i5 and the other runs an i7. The i5 guy has issue after issue while the i7 fellow generally sits pretty but doesn't do much gaming.
I also am now a little bit more confused but educated.
Dual channel is just referring to how the ram is seated? or is it an integrated addition to the actual RAM (e.g. single core, dual core, etc..) that increases it's capabilities . I just reread a wiki and whenever it mentions dual channel it is specifically speaking of how the RAM is placed while I was under the impression that it was a superior type of RAM...LOL oh deary me...
According to my memory and research, the prime components to worry about when purchasing RAM is the Speed and capacity match for combatibility, and of course the type (DDR, DDR2, DDR3). In this case 1600 is the speed and 2GB is the capacity. Of course some Mobos can be finicky but as a rule, this is all that should apply.
This whole dual channel thing is throwing me for a loop now ><! So dual Channel is just a technique for seating the RAM?

couple links to check out...

Dual Channel Vs. Single Memory Configuration

Dual-channel architecture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

a dual channel setup is dependent on the motherboard, not the actual memory itself