[MDVill]

Hello, everyone! One quick question...you all probably know the answer to this one, but I have to make sure...

What is the difference in appearence between a double-sided memory and a single-sided memory?

Th reason why I am asking this is beacuse I got a brand new Gigabyte motherboard that has 6 memory slots. The only way to activate the Dual Channel technology ON ALL 6 SLOTS would be to do the following...

DIMM 1 + DIMM 4 : Dual-side/Single-side
DIMM 2 + DIMM 5 : Single-side
DIMM 3 + DIMM 6 : Single-side

Since I have no idea what they mean by that...I can only use up 4 in order to use the Dual-channel technology.

I am using all of the same kind of Kingston 512 memory (Dual-Channel compatable)...and they all look the same...and if I even ry to put all of them in...the computer runs really slow...

If anyone can at least explain to me what the difference is, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thak you,
.:Blue Fire:.

[jcarle]

Memory in computers is accessed in what is called banks. Each motherboard has different configuration on how to access those banks. Some motherboards will access one bank per slot of memory, while some will access two banks per slot of memory. If you have single-sided memory, it's a single bank, while double-sided memory is two banks. So if you put a double sided stick of memory into a single banked slot, only half of the memory will be accessed. Meanwhile, if you put a single sided stick of memory into a two banked slot, one of the memory banks will be left unused. Dual channel works on accessing two BANKS of memory simultaneously, not necessarily two sticks. Which could explain the odd configuration of your motherboard. It's best to read thoroughly the recommended memory configuration for you motherboard in the manual and then look up the part number of your memory online to verify exactly what kind of ram you have (Speed, Number of Banks, Timings and Size).

[MDVill]

jcarle, on Jul 29 2005, 08:06 AM, said:

Memory in computers is accessed in what is called banks. Each motherboard has different configuration on how to access those banks. Some motherboards will access one bank per slot of memory, while some will access two banks per slot of memory. If you have single-sided memory, it's a single bank, while double-sided memory is two banks. So if you put a double sided stick of memory into a single banked slot, only half of the memory will be accessed. Meanwhile, if you put a single sided stick of memory into a two banked slot, one of the memory banks will be left unused. Dual channel works on accessing two BANKS of memory simultaneously, not necessarily two sticks. Which could explain the odd configuration of your motherboard. It's best to read thoroughly the recommended memory configuration for you motherboard in the manual and then look up the part number of your memory online to verify exactly what kind of ram you have (Speed, Number of Banks, Timings and Size).
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Thanks alot! That really helped. Now I have a better understanding. Thanks.