What is better - 3 or 4 sticks of DDR2?

As the topic asks, what is better, 3 or 4 sticks of memory? Right now I've got two sticks of 1GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800. I hear that putting a stick in all four slots will strain the computer but I've also heard it's better than just two sticks because the computer has access to more memory (2 vs. 4). I can't find a definitive answer using Google. Anybody know about this? Clocker or Lynx? :)

I'm considering either one more 2GB stick of memory or two more 1GB memory sticks. My motherboard is an eVGA 680i SLi.

Thanks.

i heard that if you put an odd amount for example 1,1, 512mb sticks can make you games lag. not sure what will happen if you have other combination like 2,2,1 or something like.
liking your new display pic by the way:)

lol thanks Dan, Ace Ventura is a classic. I run 3 sticks of memory in my laptop and works perfect but I care more about the performance in my desktop than my laptop since I only play games on my desktop. I hear that you have to run in a lower command rate with all four slots full. How much would this affect performance?

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Originally Posted by silent h3ro

As the topic asks, what is better, 3 or 4 sticks of memory? Right now I've got two sticks of 1GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800. I hear that putting a stick in all four slots will strain the computer ...

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Four sticks work just fine on Intel chipsets....not sure about the nVidia stuff.
Probably you're best bet would be to get a 2 x 2GGB kit (they're so damn cheap right now) and sell off your 2 x 1GB set.

4 > 3
4 sticks allow for dual channel, while 3 will not.

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Originally Posted by kaiweiler

4 > 3
4 sticks allow for dual channel, while 3 will not.

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thought that was right.
Silent hero, i have 2x2 GB and works amazingly well even though vista 32bit only likes to use 3 something GB of it lol.

Actually, it's not completely right.

As long as you get the sticks in the right slots you could run 1GB+1GB+2GB in dual channel mode.

Assuming you are already running in dual channel mode you would have to remove one of the 1GB sticks and replace it with the 2GB stick, then put the free 1GB stick in whichever slot is the same channel as the other 1GB stick. That way you've got 2GB on each channel and dual channel mode should work. If your memory is in slots 1 and 2, you probably need to move the stick from slot 2 to slot 3 and put the 2GB into slot 2. If your memory is in slots 1 and 3, you probably need to move the stick from slot 3 to slot 2 and put the 2GB into slot 3. It all depends on the slot layout of your mobo.

The downside is that since they can't possibly be matched pairs, the timings can't be as tight as with a matched pair and they will also probably need to run in 2T mode which will slow things down slightly.

1T/2T refers to the delay between setting up the address in the chip and telling the chip to deliver the data. The affect it has on performance depends on the burst length since there is only one setup per burst. You usually need 2T with 2 sticks on the same channel because you need to give both sticks time to become stable so that data transfer is synchronised.

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Originally Posted by lynx

The downside is that since they can't possibly be matched pairs, the timings can't be as tight as with a matched pair and they will also probably need to run in 2T mode which will slow things down slightly.

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Lynx, I'm not even sure that 1T is an option for most DDR2 RAM anymore.
Or maybe it's the motherboards...certainly, none of the three different Gigabyte LGA775 boards I've used had the ability to specify between 1 or 2T.
Could be that a more feature rich board- possibly DFI?- does have this option.

@h3ro...Acid_death raises a good point.
Without a 64 bit OS, more RAM isn't going to do you much good whether it's dual channel or not.

My OS is Vista Ultimate x64, so yes I can go over 3 gigs of memory. I have both memory sticks in slots 1 and 3 right now (in Dual Channel) and the reason I asked about running a third or fourth stick is because I want to go as cheap as possible. I'm giving this PC to my mom by the end of the year (this is currently the only PC in the house) and I just need something to tide me over until then. Gaming on Vista with only 2 gigs is very choppy, especially in Crysis. So I guess I could go for 2x2gb but is it really that much better than another 2gb stick?

I'd still get the 2 x 2GB set and then pull it out and install into your new PC when Mom inherits this machine.

Yeah you are right about the cheap 2x2GB set of memory... I might go for that after I sell my old video card and get a few dollars for it. :P As I was looking at memory on newegg, I ran accross DDR3 and man it is ridiculously expensive. Even if I could afford it my mobo doesn't support it so DDR2 is an even more clear choice. G.SKILL any good?

That's what I have.

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Originally Posted by clocker

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Originally Posted by lynx

The downside is that since they can't possibly be matched pairs, the timings can't be as tight as with a matched pair and they will also probably need to run in 2T mode which will slow things down slightly.

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Lynx, I'm not even sure that 1T is an option for most DDR2 RAM anymore.
Or maybe it's the motherboards...certainly, none of the three different Gigabyte LGA775 boards I've used had the ability to specify between 1 or 2T.
Could be that a more feature rich board- possibly DFI?- does have this option.

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You are probably right, I can't say I've looked into this recently.

My point was that it probably doesn't affect the performance sufficiently to be worth worrying about, and if these boards are already running at 2T then there's no performance hit whatsoever.

However, I agree about the 2x2GB option. That way he's got a matched pair for his new system.

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Originally Posted by silent h3ro

G.SKILL any good?

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my 2gb of crucial just shit on me (6 months life) and i bought the 4gb (2x2gb) sticks of gskill and vista has never worked better. responsive times from going in/out games back & forth to desktop no longer show any lag. or before it was 100% lag now it's maybe 5% lag if that. GREAT investment!

2x1gb of crucial 6 months ago = $200+

2x2gb of gskill now = $100+

What happened to your crucial ram? How did it just 'shit on you'? (both sticks?)

G.SKILL DDR2 800 ram was $80 but with no rebate so I ended up buying OCZ Platinum DDR2 1000 ram 2x2GB sticks for $95 w/ $30 MIR (best bang for buck). Thanks for the advice everybody.

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Originally Posted by silent h3ro

G.SKILL DDR2 800 ram was $80 but with no rebate so I ended up buying OCZ Platinum DDR2 1000 ram 2x2GB sticks for $95 w/ $30 MIR (best bang for buck). Thanks for the advice everybody.

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Ive got OCZ! but mine are silver:p and stupidly i accidently took the warranty sticker off :wacko:. But never mind there good at what they do and they havent failed me yet:01:

It's funny how OCZ places the warranty sticker over the vents on the heatsink..kind of defeats the whole purpose. I saw OCZ memory that was silver in the center with gold around the outside of the heatsink, now that is some cool lookin memory (I think it was the Gold series DDR2 1066). Price was a bigger concern over looks though.

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Originally Posted by kaiweiler

4 > 3
4 sticks allow for dual channel, while 3 will not.

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yes hes right