RAM slots

[nashama]

Hi,

Is there any impact on the performance of a laptop under the following scenarios:

1) 6GB of toal RAM - 2GB in one slot and 4GB in another slot
OR
2) 8GB of toal RAM - 4GB in one slot and 4GB in another slot.

(ofcourse 8GB is larger than 6GB ........... but ......... I cannot recall where exactly I read about accessing times of the CPU on symmetrically placed RAM modules and un-symmetrically placed ones - equal RAM in dual channel v/s unequal RAM in dual channel)

Any thoughts - if someone has a deeper understanding on this?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The 8 GB configuration would likely run in dual channel mode.

I'm not so sure about the 6 GB configuration.

But dual channel is not a major deal. The impact is minor.

What does Resource Monitor tell you about RAM usage?

 

[Maguscreed]

Partially depends on the bios. Generally things are slightly smoother when you are using a matched set of ram though. (meaning same size and manufacturer.)

 

[kbrady1979]

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS run symmetrical if you can. As long as you have more than 4GB total RAM, capacity means very little in regular performance.