Things get even messier when you introduce more memory sticks or modules.
2 sticks of ram single channel.
So if the price difference between a single stick of ram and a dual kit or quad kit of the same capacity is minimal and you are taking the aesthetics of your build into consideration.
Memory comparison at gaming.
The architecture for a single channel memory is shown below.
To show the difference between single channel and dual channel i did a benchmark with a single crucial 8gb 2400 mhz ram and 2 x 4 gb 2400 mhz ram sticks.
2x4gb ram performance comparison.
2 x 4 gb sticks the read write speeds are about 25 30 higher.
I like to do 2 sticks on dual channel and 4 sticks on quad.
Ram ddr4 8gb 1x8gb 3000mhz cl16.
A system populated with more than two single ranked modules will actually act as if dual ranked modules are installed.
Ram ddr4 8gb 2x4gb 3000mhz cl16.
Single channel without eliminating a full stick.
Adding an 8gb stick to 4gb stick will make both sticks work in dual channel mode but only as two 4gb sticks.
This means we can still run 8gb of ram so capacity is constant and it also means we re still testing multi channel performance vs.
Forza horizon 4 battlefield v shadow of the tomb raider 1x8gb vs.
Your not getting any benefits for the same amount of ram going with 4 sticks normally.
2 sticks is best for a good amount of compatibility and oc.
The remaining 4gb of the second stick will work in a single channel.
So that one.
This is primarily due to the topology of the motherboards.
A single stick of ram on a motherboard with four dimm slots won t look as clean as if you were to use two sticks of ram or better yet four sticks of ram.
The results show that when in dual channel mode ie.
A single stick of ram operates on a single 64 bit data channel which means that it can push data down to a single pipe that is 64 bits in total width.