Having Trouble Finding Dual Channel Memory...

[death2all]

looking to build my own Z63A w/ dual channel ddr2533, but i'm having trouble finding some. would prefer Kingston or Corsair, but i can only find Mushkin. thanx in advance for any help.

[Charles P. Jefferies]

Well, in order to have dual channel memory, you need two sticks (preferably two identical sticks for the best performance and stability) of RAM, that's all. You can't buy "dual channel sticks", no such thing. If your motherboard supports DC memory, and you put in two sticks, then they will run in dual channel.

I recommend www.newegg.com for memory - they have a dedicated section for notebook memory. Kingston is a good, reliable brand - I like Corsair a bit better. Crucial is also very high quality.

Cheers,

[death2all]

really?? i thought that only some were designed to be dual channel (the ones labeled dual channel) and even if you put 2 identical sticks (in a dual channel MOBO) that they would still run seperately

[tullnd]

Technically, the ones that are sold as "kits" are gauranteed to be compatible to run in dual-channel mode.

With some older desktop systems, there were some issues occasionally where you could be two chips from the same manufacturer, but if they weren't from a similar build date, there might be slight changes that would create instabilities in dual channel operation(sort of like the pre-PIII days when you had to match not only steppings but batches on processors).

So, in theory, you could have a problem. That said...I have two non-matched sticks from Transcend. However, I ordered them from newegg and both my chips had serial numbers VERY close to each other, so I know they were most likely from the same batch. They work fine.