Dual-Channel Memory

I had read online that dual-channel memory was pretty overrated, particularly for gaming applications. So, when I saw a 512mb stick of pc3200 on sale for $27, I picked it up for my machine even though I knew it would disable the dual-channel of my current 1GB (two 512s). For copying dvds, the extra ram seems to speed things up. But then when I went to compile my map- a very rough and early map that usually compiles smoothly in about 30 seconds or so- the system really seemed to choke up and lag, and took about 5 minutes to compile. I'm going to remove the extra 512 and try again to compare in a little bit. Just wondered if anyone else has had this experience, or had any insight to offer.

I doubt it's because of the ram channels, since only that particular operation slowed down but everything in general ran faster. (In any case if you had to choose between cutting run time or compile time... I'd suggest cutting run time.)

ah, the map seems to have this error; dunno if I compiled with dual-channel before when I was having it:

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-66203.html

that's probably why it's taking so long, not the memory change. I'm going to do some mapping tonight, though, so I'll see about fixing the problem and trying again. It still might be useful if I do some time comparisons to see if there's really any advantage.

That sounds about right. I was going to suggest that there may be an error in the map, but I figured you had already looked for that yourself.

When I run HL2 in dual-channel versus single-channel, I do notice the difference. I did this when I was troubleshooting my computer's memory problem.

So I think dual channel does help for gaming.

When I bought my new machine, the motherboard supported "dual" mode, so I opted to go that route. I had always heard that dual was the way to go so I figured that even if it were wrong advice, I could be no worse than a non-dual mode board as i would still have the total ram quantity to use in either case.

In the end, I still have 2 slots waiting for more ram so I have lots of upgrade left. :smile: