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Lenovo X61 Dual Channel
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 12:01 pm
by z3wl
I have 2Gb+512Mb installed on my X61. Does the dual channel work? I mean the speed 667 mhz should double right? It is necesary to have 2 memories with same speed, capacity and brand? I mean for example : 2*2 Gb Kingston DDR2 667 mhz. How does this work please explain.
Re: Lenovo X61 Dual Channel
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:14 pm
by j-dawg
I believe frequencies must be matched to the motherboard and the capacities must be identical.
Re: Lenovo X61 Dual Channel
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:06 pm
by ajkula66
j-dawg wrote:
I believe frequencies must be matched to the motherboard and the capacities must be identical.
No. Both slots must be populated for dual channel to operate (and it will not double the speed BTW), but capacities need not be identical.
If you have matched capacities (1GB+1GB let's say) it will operate in the synchronous mode.
If you don't (512MB + 1GB let's say) it will operate at asynchronous mode.
The differences are not perceptible to any human being on this planet, I can guarantee that.
Re: Lenovo X61 Dual Channel
Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 5:40 am
by z3wl
thanks a lot man. then i quess i'll stick forever with my 2Gb+512Mb. There are no advantages to buy another 2 Gb and make 2*2Gb i quess.
Re: Lenovo X61 Dual Channel
Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:05 am
by adrianaitken
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel_architecture
basically you get 5-15% improvement *if* you have matching memory.
Re: Lenovo X61 Dual Channel
Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:22 pm
by ajkula66
z3wl wrote:
then i quess i'll stick forever with my 2Gb+512Mb. There are no advantages to buy another 2 Gb and make 2*2Gb i quess.
Well, since you do have a machine that can utilize 4GB RAM in a 64-bit OS-whether you're presently using one or not-and the DDR RAM is cheap, I'd get another 2GB stick somewhere down the road anyway, but that's me...
Re: Lenovo X61 Dual Channel
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 3:10 am
by adrianaitken
If you install 4GB, you can use 3GB for XP and have a 1GB RAMdisk using the unused memory. I did this until I installed Windows 7 64 bit (and upgraded to 8GB). If you search for Gavotte in this forum I explained how to set it up (and the RAMdisk is free !!).
Re: Lenovo X61 Dual Channel
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:50 pm
by z3wl
thank u for all advices. maybe i'm going to buy 2Gb after all and make 2*2 Gb
by the way...i've tested the single and dual channel on my X61 with Everest (the program that shows temperature on CPU, MB etc and makes tests for the stability and bookmark). There were no differences between the single and dual...the results were almost the same. I was a lil bit dissapointed
