Noob question regarding the Ram slots and the zones

I know this is a Notbook forum but I have some questions how the Ram slots and the zones work on desktops and laptops.

I Upgraded my old school desktop awhile back from 2gb to 4gb. I bought a 2gb PC2 5400 and there was originally 2 1Gs in there. I put in the 2GB in but no display. someone told me that it has 2 zones and they have to be balanced. so he put the 2 1GB ram sticks in one zone and the 2GB in the other. there are four ram slots.

I get that part now with the Memory having to be balanced on both zones. But what I dont get is, if a laptop has only 2 ram card slots how does a laptop work with 6GB of memory when there is 2 zones, unless there are 3gb ram cards. this is where I am lost. one slot should be zone 1 and the other zone 2.

also I saw a desktop awhile back at the store with 3 ram card slots but with one 4gb ram card in there. how is that running, and how do you balance 2 zones with 3 ram card slots ?

 

Your friend was wrong. Each "zone" is called a channel. But it doesn't matter how much ram is in each one; it will work regardless.

 

so then what is the purpose of different channels. why are 2 of my ram slots in my old desktop blue and the other 2 white ?

 

Each channel accesses its memory independently. So when you have two channels, it can access the memory twice as fast as a single channel. So if you have two sticks of ram, it is better to put each in a separate channel than have them both on the same channel. Having matching sticks in each channel, though never required, used to mean a lot more than it does today. There used to be a drastic performance increase by doing so. Nowadays though the real world performance difference is pretty much negligible. Feel free to put ram in your desktop or laptop in any combination you wish.

 

so in my desktop slot 1 is blue, 2 white, 3 blue, 4 white.

The original 2 1gb ram sticks that were in there, there was a 1gb in slot 1 and slot 2. I was gonna put the 2gb in slot 3, should that have worked ? maybe I just didnt have it in right. was hard getting back there. Someon told me I got em in wrong and he put one of 1gb in slot 3 and put the 2gb in slot 2 with the 1gb in slot 1. but it worked from there.

 

It will work in any configuration, but like-colored slots are on the same channel and therefore will perform better if they are matched. As Qing said it used to matter a lot but motherboards are a little smarter today, so you'll really only notice it in benchmarks.

Assuming you have 2x1GB and 1x2GB, the most efficient way to arrange your RAM would be to put each 1GB in one color slot, and the 2GB in the other color slot. Your friend arranged it like this for best performance.

 

Your friend was right.
Well what you were going to do would have worked as well, but not as well.
The colour coding determines the channel.

In your case you would have 3GB (1GB + 2GB) on the blue channel and 1GB on the white channel, so you couldn't take advantage of the speed increase in using multiple channels. What you have now is 2GB (1GB + 1GB on one, 2GB on another) on both channels so there's a memory access speed increase (though with modern CPUs these days it doesn't make too much of a difference anymore)

 

So most laptops and desktops today are just one channels now im guessing and doesnt matter what memory you put in there, as long as the motherboard is compatible with the speed.

Cause I want to upgrade my DV7 laptop. has 4gb of ram, 2 2GB cards. So I can take out one of the 2GB and put in a 4 and I will be ok.

and if having multiple channels are better with performance why dont motherboards today have multiple channels anymore ?

 

They do, but laptops usually have fewer RAM slots to start with, and motherboards controllers can compensate for it. I have 6GB (1x2GB + 1x4GB) and the motherboard runs 4GB of it in dual channel mode (all of the 2GB + half of the 4GB) and the last 2GB in single channel mode.

 

ok now, but back to one of my previous questions. I saw a Desktop awhile back with 3 ram card slots. is that just a one channel of 3 or how is that balanced ?

 

I'm pretty sure that was all a single channel. There are motherboards with three ram channels, but I'm pretty sure they all have 6 ram slots.

 

Guys, I don't know what the h..ck are you talking about "there is no difference in performance" but I suggest you to read again what memory does he have and forget about HyperX 1600 or even DDR3 1066/1333 which you have.

Having P2-5400 means you must use all to increase RAM speed. Also I would check CPU and chipset on that desctop because I believe you can use PC2-6400 at least. I have such feeling.

 

actually its only compatible with 4200, 5300, 6400. I bought a 5300 2Gb

 

Then my feeling is still the best I know CPU must work with 800Mhz.

I would suggest you to sell your old 2x1, give back this 2Gb and buy 2x2 PC2-6400. As I said some people forgot that not everyone use non-DDR3 RAM.

But I know that this type of RAM is more expensive. So if I were you I would sell Motherboard and would buy DDR3 compatible.
Also there are such which are compatible with both DDR2 and DDR3 RAM. But some of them can use only either DDR2 or DDR3. This is why I would sell all RAM, old MoBo and bought new MoBo and cheaper RAM. I gues you won't spend too much (maybe 35 backs) for all but will have snappier comp.

 

Im just trying to sell the PC for good, its an HP M7650N XP media center. It originally came with 2 1gbs. I upgraded to 4 cause who wants to buy a PC with 2GB anymore. and I know its 32 bit cant take advantage of 4gbs. but I got the 2GB for a lower price than 2 1gbs. the motherboard is compatible up to 8

 

Good luck.

 

If he has anything Core 2 or beyond (he does), then single/dual channel isn't going to mean much of anything unless he is trying to play games on integrated graphics. Buying a new motherboard/ram will do a whole lot of nothing.