Is a Dual Channel kit any different to 2 Identical RAM Sticks?

[DragonQ0105]

I was looking at this 1GB Dual Channel Kit for £77:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=66689

But I found the individual 512MB Sticks for only £34 each:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=64768

That means if I buy the 2 sticks separately, I get them for about £10 cheaper. Is there any reason not to do this? Will the separate sticks run in Dual Channel mode fine?

 

[garebo]

I'm glad you asked that question! I am only guessing that the answer would be no, but, again, i am only guessing, so lets see what others have to say.

Ok, now i have seen the pics and i see that one has a heat shield on them and the other doesnt, so i think its only the price of the heatshield that is causing the difference in price. The word "kit", i believe, comes from the fact that they are selling 2 sticks of ram together with 2 heatshields, whereas the single stick of ram has no heatshield.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[DragonQ0105]

Good obvservation, garebo, but eBuyer's pictures aren't exactly reliable...

Both have excellent reviews though

 

[garebo]

Thanks, Dragon, then again i dont find ebay itself that reliable, but thats only my opinion, others will certainly not agree with my statement. I guess i am spoiled, i get all my computer parts via net forums that have for sale\trade sections, prices are much lower and security is better, then again this is a different topic. Please dont think i am criticizing, its only my opinion and its based on what i perceive to be the American version of Ebay as well.

If you have a small case or other reason to think you may need the heatshields, then you might want to go for the kit. If you overclock your ram or cpu would be another reason to go for the kit. But as you pointed out, you may want to email and verify that the heatshields do indeed come with the ram sticks as per the picture!




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[garebo]

I forgot, as far as OCZ brand i do believe its a good brand and a fair deal for the money, with or without heatshield.


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[BadFrog]

No the separate sticks will not run in dual channel mode fine. They may run, but you will not be getting the benefit of dual channel. In order to utilize the dual channel feature you must use the 2x512 kit as those sticks are matched precisely to work in dual channel mode.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[DragonQ0105]

I thought they just had to be the same "make, model, timing and speed" to work in Dual Channel Mode - i.e. the same Sticks...

Oh, and I never mentioned eBay - I was talking about eBuyer...

 

[BadFrog]

I think the "kit" package guarantees that the memory will work in dual channel mode and any other configuration would not be supported. So I guess if you have 2 sticks that you are sure match exactly then you should be ok.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[garebo]

I stand corrected and my apologies if indeed that is the case. Nor doubting that but lets hear from some others.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[paparazi]

DragonQ0105
I have to disagree guys!
In 99 out of 100 cases two sticks purchased at the same time with the same specs DO WORK in dual channel.

A dual channel kit is just garanteed to be two identical modules.

Lets put it this way: if you bought one stick of Kingston Value PC3200 DDR400 512mb ram this week and then in six months ordered exactly the same you might find the first fitted with Samsung chips and the second Micron, these probably wouldn't work in dual channel.

It would be very unusual for two modules bought at the same time from one buyer who has been supplied by his wholesaler in bulk, for them NOT TO BE identical.
The only BAD senario would be if he mixed old and new stock together and they were differant chip makes.

Point is, you just ask at point of sale to have two sticks from the same batch, JOB SORTED.

I actually had two differant makes (Kingston and an Twinmoss) on my Nforce2 motherboard running in dual channel, they just happened to have the same chips on board although they looked quite differant modules.

When we build we use two sticks from the same batch supplied to us and I have never not seen dual channel reported on boot (generally Corsair/Kingston or Twinmoss Value)
The value side of the OCZ range is still much better than your normal run of the mill module.
I especially like the very low latency Platinum Rev 2.0 with 2 2 2 6? (bit expensive tho)
It is designed to work at extremely tight timings and higher Voltages, OK if you have a DFI NF4 motherboard.

Martin

Martin


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[felixc]

Yup, Martin's got the point. The higher performance you need the tighter the timings have to be. To get that, same chip manufacturer, and same date code if possible. This will not only give similar timings, but similar noise patterns as well.

So if you can get to the dealer and examine the modules for the same chip part numbers and date codes, you will do what they charge you an extra ten bucks for.

It does not mean that mixes won't work, but no one will want to guarantee it.

 

[garebo]

Looks like the tide has turned here, guess i can take my apology back.
Maybe you should let them know that you expect to be running dual channel and then you should be able to buy 2 sticks of the lower priced without the heat shields, provided you are relatively certain that your case and fan situation are good.

I see now that you are talking about ebuyer and not ebay, sorry about that!




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[cdogg]

And just for the record, I have mixed different brands with different timings and still gotten dual channel to work. I have yet to see two sticks refuse to work with each other.

Point is that unlike the early days of regular SDRAM, board manufacturers have done an excellent job in recent years making their memory controllers tolerant. With that said, it is still always best to get matching sticks whether by brand or by kit whenever possible.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
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