Single Channel Memory Trend

why does more and more manufacturer bundled their notebook with single channel RAM?

i see the most common is 2GB single channel. (1 Slot)

isn't it cheaper and faster to include 1GBx1GB (2GB, 2 slot) dual channel config instead?

does single channel configuration has its benefit that i dont know of? cooler, less power consumption, ?

I'm thinking of upgrading my thinkpad x300 (1.2ghz core2duo, 2gb (single channel), Integrated Graphic (IGP)) will i see wortwhile improvement?

 

If the manufacturers are installing 2GB and leaving one slot free then that is better for the end user who wants to upgrade. There's no need to take out one of the original modules.

Also, I think that 1 x 2GB modules are probably less expensive than 2 x 1GB.

Single channel RAM doesn't cause a big performance loss with the latest Intel chipset.

John

 

I would say that it is in your best interests that manufacturers only fill one ram slot as it allows a cheaper and easier upgrade path for you.
Plus, if you upgrade to say, 2gig or 4gig, it will be running in dual channel mode which most laptops support, by buying just one extra stick of ram.

Cheers

Malai5

 

I think that is is great if you have a free slot available to upgrade
For instance if your laptop has two 1gb chips , 1 in each slot
To upgrade means that you remove 1 or 2 perfectly good chips
If you have a free slot ,you can just add a chip without any loss



Alex

 

but in order for dual channel to work optimally musnt the ram must be the same spec? size and performance?

im planning to get something like 2x2GB corsair RAM. will it be compatible?

corsair said that i can install 3GB, while lenovo 4GB. maybe corsair meant vista only see 3GB?

do you think its worth it to upgrade or just leave it alone? i never upgrade notebook RAM before.

do you usually upgrade your RAM right away or upgrade when feeling needing more performance. ram is so cheap nowdays that it is non issue.

is upgrading RAM easy? easy to snap-out and snap-in RAM.

 

It's for power consumption reduction. Your X300 is an ultraportable using LV Core 2 Duo. Activating the other channel would increase the power consumption of the chipset. The 2nd channel doesn't really come free you know.

 

You need same size RAM, RAM spec (timing) is common in almost all RAM at a specific speed (unless you buy expensive performance RAM). Therefore even if you buy a different 2GB RAM it will work, usually it works at the lowest common spec of the two modules.

I think so too.

RAM is very cheap, so I recommend the upgrade.

It is the easiest hardware upgrade, usually you only have to remove one panel underneath the notebook and plug in the new module. But refer to the service manual to make sure, since yours is an ultra portable.

 

For the sake of explanation, single channel RAM will cause noticeable difference in performance for the IGP compared to dual channel. Type of applications GPU does in nature requires more bandwidth than CPUs.

And even on CPU performance, think of it this way. The small 3-4% increase gained by dual channel is probably equal to getting a CPU one step higher which is usually much higher price.

 

which one is more power efficient?

(2x)1gb
or
(1x)2g

would the LV Core2duo 1.2ghz actually can (powerful enough to) benefit from using dual channel ram to improve perfomance?

is the ram slot durable? strong enough for first time user? does it feels flimsy.

thank you guys for tolerating my curiosity

my computer. spec.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-69326#mem

which ram would you recommend? im looking at the:
CORSAIR - VS2GSDS667D2
can i use 2 of that to make 4gb?

 

What do you mean is the ram slot strong enough for a first time user? Do you think you might break it by inserting another stick of ram? I really doubt that is the case...pull the side pins out so the ram will auto flip up at a 45* angle and then just slide it out at that angle. Do the reverse to stick it in. You cant really mess it up.

 

hahahah its strong enough then.

im just thinking that because it is a notebook, the inner is fragile eg. thin metal.

 

Don't bother about single/dual channel. Its a waste of time. There is absolutely no noticeable difference in performance.

The main purpose of ram is to prevent the OS from using the HDD as cache. That's it.

When replacing modules, just don't pull the memory slot clips with too much force. If those break, the slot will be rendered useless. I've seen loads of people crying after breaking memory slot clips and blaming the notebook's build quality and all.

 

As long as the modules are reasonably similar, modern BIOSes will work out the fastest speed supported by both modules. For example, if you mix DDR800 and DDR667 then the RAM will run as DDR667.

These difference are only noticeable in benchmarks and not in real life. Part 2 of my E6400 review includes some benchmark results for different RAM combinations. Both the 1GB and 2GB results were single channel, the 3GB is psuedo dual channel. I could now do a 2 x 2GB dual channel if I find time and inclination.

John

 

thanks for the comment john

however, this particular detail isn't true. in most notebook i see, the (2x)1gb is actually cheaper. the lower-end version of the machine actually comes in this dual channel. in most laptop config, a refund (substraction of price) is give when selecting (2x)1gb version compared to (1x)2gb. i actually prefer they do it dual channel. apple always do this...

 

Yea, again, read over your sentence: my E6400 review

It's a CPU review. Do a IGP gaming test, which the OP asked for and the differences would be bigger.

 

I think he means when you only are buying the modules not the whole computer with them. Which is true.

And less parts less can go broke, that's one of the main reasons they have a single module installed on those who have it. Some notebooks may get instability when using both slots instead of one, depending on what sticks there is and how well tested they are.

 

is the heat and battery life (power consumption) hit negligible?

 

Aren't 3DMark05 and 3DMark06 intended to be tests of GPU performance?

If you look at those then you will see that the worst results are for 1 x 1GB, which must be single channel. However, with only 1GB then the RAM allocated to the GPU will be limited and this could reduce performance. The results to compare are the 2GB (actually 2 x 1GB) of DDR800 and the 2GB (actually 1 x 2GB) of DDR667. The 1 x 2GB is slower, but the difference is less than 10%.

John

 

The review's Sisoftware Sandra report says there are no 1x2GB results. They are just different memory speeds, there's only 1 single channel results.

Plus, the 3Dmarks on the Intel IGPs run on software mode, which can skew results. The real gaming performance on the Intel IGPs are when the benchmarks are running on hardware mode.

 

will having better (dual channel vs single channel) ram improve start-up time and general day to day task (not gaming)?
making aero runs smoother. less stuter?

im fine with current performance except the live thumbnail dont work when i open couple (around 5) windows, noticeably the windows media player.

btw, i did a bit of research about 32-bit memmory limit. it might interest you guys, that it seems if we put in 4GB or more on 32-bit system, the IGP will use the unseenable part for its graphic shared memmory. the system reserve around 700 or so mb (i think) for the system memmory resources. which include the graphic memmory. the system can be tweak by a bit, giving you more or less the space reserved for system memmory, giving you a bit of variation.

 

More ram will not improve start-up time of example windows. For starting applications and games yes, but it may not be noticeable, also has to do with what windows you're using and how it handles the ram you have.


And yes, 32bit is limited with ram. And the rest is well known to be used by the system resources for example: gpu and other things and that's why you can't use the fully 4GB. This is nothing new

 

sorry, by better i mean dual vs single channel. i edited the post to avoid confusion.

will having dual channel improve system startup?

what task is memmory bandwith intensive?
is there anyway to check how the memmory bandwith is used? (reliabilty and performance monitor, windows experience index)

is my memmory the bottleneck?

it is 2gb 667mhz pc5300 variety.
the cpu is low voltage 1.2ghz 4mb L2 cache.
storage drive is SSD.

im using vista 32-bit.

so, it is true? that the extra ram doesnt go wasted. instead it is used for the intergrated graphic as shared memmory.

 

Dual channel will not improve system start-up times.

Photoshop and some video-editing apps are memory-intensive, though mostly not noticeable between dual or single-channel. The more amount of ram is more noticeable.

One 2GB stick togheter with a 1.2GHz cpu is not gonna be a noticeable bottleneck at all.

Well, i think you've missunderstod what you read about the rest of the memory being used for, it is a waste for the rest of the memory, it shouldn't "normally" be used for those kind of things, compare to a 64bit OS, a 64bit OS will give you fully use of 4GB as nothing will be used for anything else than system ram. So on a 32bit OS the upper limit of ram will go wasted if you have 4GB, as the rest will get used for gpu, pci-thingys and such as they aren't in need for more ram it in the first place.

 

thank you very much Michel.K i want to give you another rep point but the system wont let me