Does RAM need to be paired in E6500?

I'm interested in buying an E6500 on Dell Outlet. I saw that some are available with one 4 GB module of RAM. Would it work to add another 2 GB module in DIMM B? I know I'd lose the benefit of dual-channel, but wouldn't the extra 2 GB far more than make up that difference? Or will the laptop not work with non-paired modules of RAM?

I'm also wondering if running 64-bit Windows on a laptop with 4 GB gives you performance gains over 32-bit. I know that 64-bit will read the full 4 GB, but I also read somewhere that 64-bit has longer strings to process.

Thanks!

 

Two same sized memory modules will give the best performance, slightly better than 2 modules of different sizes which will be slightly faster than only one module. There's more details in the Dual Channel RAM Guide.

Part 2 of my E6400 review (link in signature) includes benchmark results with different memory configurations. There's not a lot of difference.

I can't help on the relative performance of 64-bit. There's a few comments in this thread.

John

 

Thanks a lot, John!