Strange RAM story.

[gvblake22]

There are lots of different ways to measure performance and it all depends on what you are using the computer for. You can run synthetic Everest and SANDRA memory benchmarks all day long but it doesn't usually show what you will actually get in the real world when gaming, or compressing files, or encoding/decoding, or image editing, etc. If you want to know how single channel and dual channel memory configurations affect the performance of certain tasks, then you have to run a benchmark that specifically tests that task. For gaming performance, you can use 3DMark or game demo benchmarks. Can you be more specific on what applications/games you usually run on your computer?

[polobunny]

Anyway, I don't know of a scenario where RAM not in dual channel would get better than RAM in dual channel.

[MontanaFX]

Almost exclusively FPS. I think they are the most demanding along with Driving games. I am also inclined towards them, but havent played 1 in a while. *Loves Burnout*

I use Photoshop now and again, which is probably the most demanding app I use.

[gvblake22]

There are a fair amount of free FPS benchmarks out there, Crysis is the first one that comes to mind, but you can also try Half Life 2. As polobunny mentioned, gaming benchmarks are probably not going to show much (if any) difference in RAM changes because the games are so heavily dependent on the video card. You can try this Photoshop benchmark for image editing performance, or Futuremark's PCMark Vantage or PCMark05 for general system performance.

[stinger608]

I can kind of see what your looking for, to see if running RAM in dual channel will result in better FPS's than not running it in dual channel.

The only issue that I see with a benchmark run in, say, Crysis, or Half Life 2, is you will get a average fps count at the end. I would imagine that both dual channel and not dual channel will result in the same outcome.

I can see what you really want to know, when dual channel gives you a better frame rate. In other words, if there are 10 enemies coming at you at once, will dual channel give you 65fps, while not being in dual channel only results in 59fps!

Just an example.

I have no clue what kind of a benchmark a person could find that would giveyou an accurate frame rate example such as the one described above

[MontanaFX]

Thanks for all the useful links and info.

I think I will stick to dual channel on the bases of the info given. I will probably get another 2gb of RAM soon. Its one of the cheapest parts to get hold of anyway.

Can any1 recommend a good brand to go with. I have Kingston atm which I know are quite good but not the best. My budget isnt vast.

My mobo only supports 1.8v

[gvblake22]

If you've already got Kingston RAM and want to pair it with more, then you might as well get another of the same just to keep an even playing field. Mixing RAM brands and types doesn't always work in your favor. I would recommend most anything from the top brands like Corsair, OCZ, Patriot, G-Skill, Crucial and Mushkin. There are also some good deals to be found sometimes from the likes of A-DATA, Super Talent, Team Group, PQI (not to be confused with PNY) and GeIL.

[MontanaFX]

I will defiantly keep a look out for the above mentioned brands and knowing not to mix brands is good to know.

You really seem to know your stuff

I will probably ditch my Kingston value RAM and go for something a little more gutsy, but not b4 I upgrade my GPU.