Dual-channel mode vs. more RAM

[Gregg Hill]

Hello!

I have a two-year old MSI 865PE Neo2-V motherboard that has three RAM slots.
It can take up to 3GB, and I am wondering which configuration would provide
better gaming performance.

Would it perform better with 2GB in dual-channel mode, or 3GB in
single-channel mode? With only three slots, I cannot install three 1GB
modules and have dual-channel mode at the same time. I get either 2GB
dual-channel, or 3GB single-channel.

Thank you for your time!

Gregg Hill

 

[MVP]

You would be much better off with the 2GB (two 1 GB chips)

 

[Noncompliant]

Would go with dual-channel 2GB option. Just be sure HAL is setup to use it.
Might require a repair install of XP.

 

[Gregg Hill]

I had a suspicion that would be the answer. I suppose that would hold
true(?) unless a game were a particular RAM-hog and actually got well into
the third GB, in which case single-channel RAM is still faster than paging
to disk.

Thank you and "MVP" for your help!

Gregg Hill