4x1gb vs 2x2gb

[Flintblade]

Is there any difference between occupying all 4 dimms and only 2 dimms. I ask this because I can get 2 really good kits of 2x1gb cl4 for less than a value kit of 2x2gb with cl6.

[enaberif]

Some people say its harder on the motherboard with 4x1 when it comes to overclockin cause you usually have to run higher voltages hence why 2x2 is better.

[Flintblade]

I see, could you recommend a good 2x2gb kit? I'm seeing tons but don't know what to get lol.

[CanadaRox]

Originally Posted by enaberif

Some people say its harder on the motherboard with 4x1 when it comes to overclockin cause you usually have to run higher voltages hence why 2x2 is better.

I wouldn't necessarily say 2x2GB is better for overclocking. I don't have any experience with 2x2GB, but I know that Micron D9GMH/D9GKX don't come on 2GB modules. I don't know how well PowerChip IC's overclock though. But its worth considering that despite the increase load on the motherboard from using more sticks, better overclocking IC's could be better.

[b1lk1]

I personally haven't had any problems overclocking 4 sticks of ram on any AMD system since the A64 Venice and the P4's never had issues. The big thing was people mismatching sticks. Even my current PC which is hardly an overclockers board has no problems with 4 sticks. Get what you can afford because we will be running DDR4 on the motherboard by the time we outgrow 4GB of system ram.

[Scratch]

I have 4x1GB sticks of Buffalo Firestix pc6400 OC'd 1005mhz @ 2.3v CL5-4-4-18 2T timings no issues

[CasheKicker]

Some mother boards, like my Asus A8N-e really does not like 4 sticks in it. When I fill the slots my DDR 400 will be forced to run @ 333. I can OC it back to 400 but it just does not work as having 2x2 in it.

[Babrbarossa]

Originally Posted by Scratch

I have 4x1GB sticks of Buffalo Firestix pc6400 OC'd 1005mhz @ 2.3v CL5-4-4-18 2T timings no issues

That's pretty awesome- a testament to the 680i despite all the moaning (and a testament to firestix, of course)

I haven't had much luck overclocking my 2X2 Gb GSkill PC28000- It's running at just a little faster than stock

[Mars]

Originally Posted by CasheKicker

Some mother boards, like my Asus A8N-e really does not like 4 sticks in it. When I fill the slots my DDR 400 will be forced to run @ 333. I can OC it back to 400 but it just does not work as having 2x2 in it.

That's an issue with the mem controller in older S939 processors, not with the motherboards.

FWIW, I've got 4GB of DDR running at a bit over 500 on my board.

[thenewguy001]

Originally Posted by Babrbarossa

I haven't had much luck overclocking my 2X2 Gb GSkill PC28000- It's running at just a little faster than stock

I think g.skills usually are not very OC'able. They run great at stock though