what do Dual Channel DDR motherboards do?

[coolmandingo]

Im looking for a new mobo for my AMD 2000+ and I see some mobos advertised as having Dual Channel DDR support, while others dont. What exactly does this so? Is it faster? and what speed of RAM should I get with it? Would I need to upgrade to a CPU with a faster FSB in order to take advantage of this?

[wmicro]

When Dual Channel DDR Technology is activated, the bandwidth of Memory Bus will be double the original Memory Bus, with the fastest speed at 6.4GB/s DDR400. To activate Dual Channel DDR Memory, two DDR Memory Modules are inserted individually, one each into Channel A and Channel B. see this links http://www.buildorbuy.org/dualchannelddr.html

[OldBob]

Actually, interleaved memory dates all the way back to the first "core" memory systems. That was because memory at the time was so slow that interleaving was necessary to get performance. If those old engineers only knew.

[Ferrit]

Just a note on the Dual Channel memory sticks if you are going to buy
They must be matched so that timming issues dont develop
Hence Dual Channel kits which come with a pair of the same size memiory sticks
like 2X256 or 2X512 etc.
As to a motherboard. I have the Epox 8RDA3+ and its a superb board and not expensive
The processor you have will be fine running in dual channel

[Radical Dreamer]

Just a note on the Dual Channel memory sticks if you are going to buy
They must be matched so that timming issues dont develop
Hence Dual Channel kits which come with a pair of the same size memiory sticks
like 2X256 or 2X512 etc.
As to a motherboard. I have the Epox 8RDA3+ and its a superb board and not expensive
The processor you have will be fine running in dual channel

Its not actually a "Must" to have the same sticks as you can change the timings with most boards, but it is recommended

[Stalemate]

I usde a couple of Corsair sticks ordered at the same time, but not from the "Twin" series and they work just fine et 6-2-2-2.

[OldBob]

Same with me ... I wasn't trying for dual channel, but I had two identical Kingston sticks and mine also work just fine. I was pleasantly surprised when the bios screen lit up the dual channel mode banner. I thought I needed dual channel memory.

[TripleRLtd]

RightO. The "kits" are more expensive, right? So, figure it out for yourself: ANYTHING for a buck!!! The spec isn't about perfectly "matched" memory. It's about DUAL channels on the motherboard (THAT is the most important part!!), and any memory that works will fit the spec! Try, for instance, using one "stick" of ram on a pc/mb that supports dual channel, and then "upgrading" it later to dual channel capabilites. It works Ferrit!

[Ferrit]

Many things work
The point was that mem timming issues are significantly reduced when using the kitz
I have many times used plain ram that was ordered without it being a
Dual Channel Kit
I expect saying "They must be matched so that timming issues dont develop " was probably incorrect. They dont Have to be matched.
But many times a week we see people in the chatroom who are getting blue screens with just ordinary ram sticks both in dual channel and not in dual.
Amd's dont like mis-matched memory.

[TripleRLtd]

Well, you are certainly right there. RAM quality control has gone down the tubes, and causes ALL sorts of problems. And ram checking software does not find it most of the time. THAT makes our job that much harder. But, the point I am trying to make is this: to make Dual Channel work you do NOT need perfectly matched high priced memory "kits". They are just robbing us.