Likely a daft question, but is there anything special about a triple channel memory set? I need memory for my new build and my friend was wanting a single 4gb stick so I was thinking of getting a triple channel kit and giving him the third stick. Any problems with this??
The idea is that they are matched up in the factory although this isn't always the case as I found one of my original sticks wasn't up to scratch so they obviously hadn't really done much testing. I can't see any problem with what you want to do, although your friend might not reap the extra bandwidth of dual channel if both channels don't match in size.
Dual Channel: Sold in sets of 2 (socket 775, 1155/6) Triple Channel: Sold in sets of 3 (socket 1336) Quad Channel: Sold in sets of 4 (socket 2011)
Also check that the voltages are suitable for your systems. What are the motherboards and do you intend to overclock? Would be helpful to know what kind of ram you are buying and what your friend already has.
since only LGA1366 is triple channel any other system you have or a re considering will simply not support triple channel. socket 1156, 1155, AM2+, AM3 are all dual channel. ivy bridge is quad channel the beneits of extra channels are increased bandwidth. This can also be achieved through speed too. However day to day you will not see a benefit unless the program you are running is extremely memory intensive.
From my understanding : you get two sticks of matched memory for your build to run dual channel, (and base your purchase on speed, CAS etc for this) - he gets the extra stick. Only possible problem i see, is the stick you give him may not match any other RAM already in his PC - so his memory would run to the abilities of the lowest spec'ed memory in the system. Oh and make sure his machine uses the same type of RAM as your new one (if his machine is a few years old, or he's unsure of its age, he may need an older type of memory)
They are just matched sets of bog standard memory. nothing fancy. It is not like they will only work as part of that set for example.
Lads where are you lot going with this one...lol Simple answer...NO..you'll be fine but one single 4Gb stick will mean that your mate ends up running 4gb in single channel mode. Not ideal on a dual channel board as it will restrict his band with.
This. Any processor that came out in like the last 5 years is probably going to be dual channel, which means him only have a single stick will be him wasting half of his memory bandwidth. It might not be hugely noticeable but I can't comment, as I don't think I've ever had a dual channel processor with a single stick. But yes, it'll certainly work.
My mate is currently running a previous gen i5 (lynnfield i5 methinks??) with a single 2gb stick. He mentioned wanting a single 4gb stick just to up his memory capacity a bit. Ive been looking and have noticed there is not much difference between the price of a triple channel 12gb set and a dual channel 8gb set and a single 4gb stick. I think I may be better off buying them separately. Sorry slightly drunk while typing if there are any errors. Thanks for the posts guys.
What does you m8 want to do with his machine? If it's games then he's get more bandwidth with a 2nd 2GB stick.
Admittedly I'm going on an old article, but this agrees with everything I've seen on the subject. Basically that single vs dual channel makes very little difference. Same goes for faster frequencies. But to answer the OP's question, yes, that will work
Well it depends on how much bandwidth the application needs. Think of it like a waterpipe, if the pipe is already wide enough then widening it won't make any difference, but if the flow is too much the the water will pass through quicker if you widened the pipe. I saw a 6fps increase in crysis when I reconfigured my friends core 2 quad DDR2 setup for dual channel, that's about 20% increase.
