2x 2gb vs 4 x 1 gb

Surly

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Messages
366
I'm getting mixed messages on which setup of ram i should get for a 4gb system.

I'm planning on some modest overclocking (bring a 3ghz cpu to 3.4-3.6 ghz).

What are the pros/cons of 2x2gb vs 4x1gb?

TIA
 
4x1 Pros:
* More choice on speed grade, e.g. PC8500
* Can be cheaper

4x1 Cons:
* More parts mean greater chance of failure
* 4 dimms is harder to OC and remain stable

2x2 Pros:
* Upgrade path to 8gig
* Fewer parts less chance of failure

2x2 Cons:
* Fewer speed grades
* Timings are generally higher
* Can be more expensive

Recently I had 2 pc8500 Tracers fail after 3 months in a 4x1 setup. The ram was run at spec but the processor was OC'd (2.4->3.0 333x9 Q6600 B3). The rma parts wouldn't run stable at the same settings I had before generating memory errors in memtest86+ (test 5). Having no luck with voltage adjustments (MCH + FSB) I decided to shuffle dimm slots. Currently running memtest86+ and so far this is working out.

I convey this story to you because 4 dimms can be tricky with OC setup.
 
I had nothing but problems with 4 sticks even though i payed more for a board that is suppose to have less issues. Had to up the voltage and lower my timings and things were still iffy. So i sold them for dirt cheap and bought a 2x2gb kit like i wish i bought originally! :p
 
My first S775 Abit IN9 was a dream when use 4 dimms and maxed out my old Team Xteem mems at 1100 and clock my E6600 to 3.6 with both 2x1 and 4x1 but was not that great for quad as for duos.

Had big problem with 4 dimms on the old Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6, Did not even do stock/1150MHz on mem, just crappy [email protected] on poor memstraps with some looser timings and some choises in BIOS mem value manual forced and 3.5 on CPU and for that required 1.55Vcore and not even stable for more than 20mins. Didnt seem to be better on 2x1 than 4x1 either along with poor perfornace, only upside was real copper in heatpipe. Tradede my old mem for the OZC Flex when the mobo was the actual problem that did not like any Micron D9 chip i have.

My newest ASUS Maximus SE is like the Abit a dream for memory and Maximus do 3.6 on CPU without any hassle on 1.46 vcore and 1200 on [email protected] vdimm and no changed valuye on men other than stock timings set, better memoryperformance on Maximus to than DQ6 when same speed/strap/timings on cpu/mem.
10GB/s is in the view with just some small tweak. No difference when use 2x1 or 4x1, just some more voltage on NB and loadline activated did the magic trick.
 
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