The Utterly Confusing World of RAM upgrades

Hi I am really confused about dual channel ram. I intend to buy a toshiba satellite - it comes with a 2ghz processor and 1 gb ram, and 32bit vista home premium edition (the graphics card is a Geforce 7300go, not great but enough for my needs i think).

The problem is that I am not sure whether to opt for a 2gb dual channel upgrade (ie add a 1gb stick to the other slot) or get a 3gb (2 + 1) upgrade, or finally a 4gb (2 + 2) one. Well the first one would obviously be the cheapest option, but since i will run vista i fear 2 gigs might be too little. 3 would be fine in my opinion, however i would be foregoing the dual channel option, whereas with 4gb i would be getting the dual channel but it is the most expensive upgrade and i fear my 32-bit vista home premium version would still not be able to recognize the whole 4gb so it wouldnt be money well spent.

Any comments? Please help me out before I die of indecision. Thanks.

 

With Intel chipsets, you don't need to have identical RAM Modules installed. It is known as Asynchronous Dual Channel configuration. However, you do seem to get a minimal performance boost with synchronous Dual Channel (identical RAM modules in both DIMM slots).

Vista should be able to detect 4GB, but it is a bit of an overkill. 2GB should be plenty of RAM. What will you be doing on your notebook.

 

From what I understand, "asynchronous" dual channel is no different from using a single slot.

Keep in mind that if you decide to go with 2+1, you can at a later time buy another 2gb module and run 2+2 dual channel and you won't have to throw away the 2gb module you already bought.

Does dual channel make a difference? I know that it does, but I don't know to what degree. I thought it was significant, but I am not up on the latest benchmarks.

 

Vista 32 will only see about 3.2GB of RAM. If that is the case will 4GB work as asynchronous dual cannel because it does not see all 4GB? if it does then get the 3GB as it will cost less and perform almost the same.

Also what are they charging for the upgrades, you can almost always find it cheaper on your own.

 

Did you read the posts?

It looks like he is doing the upgrade himself, and "asynchronous" dual channel is no different than single channel.

 

Point one, a little vague but I will agree my bad! Point two, With what I said I don't think you read. If 4GB works as synchronous dual channel that would give a performance increase making at least a reason for doing (even though I would not), if it does not function as synchronous dual channel even less reason only gain 200MB over 3GB no speed. That is my point.

 

Ah, looks like I didn't read carefully enough. 4gb should work as (synchronous) dual channel regardless of the os. This is because dual channel is a hardware feature that I believe is completely independent of the os.

 

My answer is I would get 2GB but I don't have Vista and am trusting MS. But many with Vista say that 3GB does increase performance so pick one of those, if I bought 2GB I would use 2X1GB.

 

Also, make sure that you do have an open memory slot.

 

Well if I opt for the 2 + 1 i won't have any free slots BUT, as you correctly suggest, i would be able to easily upgrade to 4 and only lose 1 (though i have heard that for dual channel speed must also match, not only capacity, so that is why it is usually better to upgrade using pairs rather than upgrade at different times).

Now, moneywise, I can opt for a gig upgrade to 2 (in one slot) and buy the other 2gb online. However two problems arise, ie the afore mentioned matching problem, and whether or not, vista being able to recognize only 3.*gb of it, i will still have the dual channel option - if i understood the posts correctly the answer to the latter question is yes cause it's a hardware not an os thing, right?

Also is 4gb worth the money if vista does not recognize the whole of it? I mean, what would you prefer: paying for and getting 3gb without dual channel, or paying for 4gb and getting 3gb with dual channel?

I intend to use the laptop for "simple" programs ( I use word a lot) but also for memory intensive programs like adobe's range of progs. I'm only a mild gamer, and mostly i will be playing Civilization IV which would definitely run under the current specs.

Thanks for your help by the way - i really need to make a decision as this is the only thing holding me back from buying the Laptop.

 

Will you actually save money by upgrading to 2gb in a single slot? I know that Dell charges crazy amounts of money for 2gb modules. Where are you ordering and how much would they charge you?

Speed ratings do not need to match. This is because it is not possible for your two modules to operate at two different speeds. They will both run at the lower speed.

You are correct about having dual channel with 4gb.

Is 4gb worth the money? That depends what you are doing with your laptop and what your personal preferences are. If you only dabble in Adobe's programs, I would say it probably isn't worth it. If you frequently edit large files with Adobe programs, I would say 4gb may help.

I was in the same boat as you when I ordered my laptop, but the point became moot when I got a free upgrade to 2x1gb. That meant I could use 2gb for as long as I wanted, and then upgrade later without having lost anything.

Ultimately the choice is yours and nobody can decide for you. Here is an article about dual channel that provides some benchmarks: http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Memory/Dual-Channel/

Unfortunately they don't show any benchmarks that would be relevant to your uses (I would think superpi is much less memory intensive than an Adobe program with a large file open). Perhaps you could find some more suitable benchmarks.