[mythtv-users] OT: Dual Channel DDR

dustymugs at skewedperception.com dustymugs at skewedperception.com
Sat Dec 18 06:09:06 UTC 2004


Dual channel is a motherboard feature.  There is no difference between
buying a "dual channel" memory kit or buying two sticks seperately, not
physically at least.  THe only distinction that the kits have besides
higher price is that the memory in these  kits are tested by the
manufacture to ensure the memory will work together.

You do NOT have to buy a kit to get dual channel out of your motherboard
(assuming your motherboard does support dual channel).  I've never bought
those kits, just single sticks of good quality ram that are rated for the
same speed,same size and same CAS Latency.  If every mobo required dual
channel kits for that feature, the place i work for would have had to
spend a whole lot more money for their clusters.

Personally, all 5 of my computers are dual channel and not 1 computer uses
a kit.

As for what dual channel really does, essentially it increases the
pipeline between your cpu and ram, thus being able to feed more data to
the CPU.  Yes, you only gain 10%-20% depending on the task.  For gaming, i
guess getting dual channel would be a good thing for the fps increase. 
For mythtv, I wouldn't really be concerned about how the mobo connects to
the RAM, just make sure you have enough memory capacity.  I'd recommend
512 MB or higher.  Rather, I'd be concerned about the transfer speed of
your hard drive and cd/dvd device.  For all the issues that could pop up,
having your movies/music/tv stuttering will probably be the most obvious
and the most annoying.



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