Re: Dual channel memory question
Lisi put forth on 4/17/2010 10:04 AM:
> Would I be correct in taking this to mean that the memory modules appear to
> be incorrectly installed, and that I could improve my memory performance by
> moving one of the modules that dual channel functions? And also, if that
No, they are currently properly installed for dual channel operation.
> does not give me enough improvement (which it almost certainly won't), I
> could add another module in the third channel, which would not necessarily
> need to be the same size as the other two?
There is no 3rd channel. There are 3 DIMM slots, but slots 2 and 3 are part
of the same channel. The nForce2 northbridge chip for some odd reason was
designed to support 1 DIMM on channel 0 and 2 DIMMs on channel 1.
As long as you have a DIMM installed in slot 1 and a DIMM installed in
either or both of slots 2 and 3, you are running in dual channel mode.
# of DIMM slots does not equal # of memory bus channels. As an example, the
Compaq Proliant 5000 quad Pentium Pro server had 16 DIMM slots but only a
single memory "channel". Back then they called it a "bus", which is the
proper electrical engineering term. "Channel" didn't come along until much
later when vendors started installing multiple memory buses. I guess the
marketing folks thought "channel" sounded better than "bus".
--
Stan
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