Welcome, let’s compare single and dual-channel RAM. Does it make a difference? Seeing is believing, so check out the review video for more information!
We have a single 8 GB RAM stick versus 2×4 GB sticks, both are PC3-12800.
- Samsung 8 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 single-channel
- Hynix 2×4 GB PC-12800 DDR3 dual-channel
Our laptop is a Thinkpad T430s using an Intel GPU with shared video RAM.
- GPU Intel HD 4000
- CPU Intel Core i5 3320M dual core (2/4)
- SSD Toshiba 256 GB
First round is the Passmark synthetic benchmark and we are getting some improvements in CPU performance and of course memory speed, but that is not all too impressive.
However, gaming gives us a big boost in fps with three games tested: Dirt 3, Crysis and Portal 2. We can see 10-60% increase in fps, so I highly recommend it for graphic performance. It seems that higher resolutions benefit more from dual-channel.
Considering that two smaller RAM modules tend to be cheaper than a single larger one, the choice for dual-channel RAM in gaming or graphic intense applications is obvious. There are some limitations though, for example a PC with a dedicated GPU and dedicated VRAM will see less performance boost, maybe none at all.
Thanks for reading! You can check out more of this blog or my YouTube channel.
PANORAMA CIRCLE 