How much of a difference is dual channel?

[Tender Loins]

I accidentally bought one 16gb stick of ddr4 instead of 2 x 8gb sticks. Am i going to notice a difference in performance at all?

not sure if this matters but the setup is going to be

i7 7700k
gigabyte 1080
16gb ram
windows 10

I dont want to be bottlenecked by something as stupid as RAM so if i hop on this quick i think i can still return it to amazon and get the 2 sticks.

[Omega]

Depends on the game. In most games you will see no difference.

[Tender Loins]

are there "types" of games it matters for or is it just random

[Omega]

Mainly open world games. Fallout 4, GTA V etc.. Difference can be 10fps +/-.

[Washell]

The fact is that, in the configuration we used an in the games we select, there was no advantage in using memories on dual-channel. This means that, in some cases, when an 8 GiB module is less expensive than two 4 GiB ones (for example), you can install only one memory module with no fear of losing performance.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/does-dual-channel-memory-make-difference-in-gaming-performance/

[Omega]

Washell původně napsal:

The fact is that, in the configuration we used an in the games we select, there was no advantage in using memories on dual-channel. This means that, in some cases, when an 8 GiB module is less expensive than two 4 GiB ones (for example), you can install only one memory module with no fear of losing performance.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/does-dual-channel-memory-make-difference-in-gaming-performance/

It's from back in 2015, a lot has changed since then.

[Mossy Snake]

It helps a lot for iGPUs, but for systems with actually competent GPUs (Vega 10 may be competent as far as laptops go if we're lucky) it doesn't matter that much

[Washell]

Omega původně napsal:

It's from back in 2015, a lot has changed since then.

Since I properly sourced the statement that there are no performance benefits, would you kindly return the courtesy and source the statement that it does.

Edit: did some google searching with results limited to the past two years. The only things I found all linked back to the 2015 article or similar ones from that period. If something had really changed after 15 years of dual channel being ineffective in regards to gaming, they're being awfully quiet about it...

[Omega]

Washell původně napsal:

Omega původně napsal:

It's from back in 2015, a lot has changed since then.

Since I properly sourced the statement that there are no performance benefits, would you kindly return the courtesy and source the statement that it does.

Edit: did some google searching with results limited to the past two years. The only things I found all linked back to the 2015 article or similar ones from that period. If something had really changed after 15 years of dual channel being ineffective in regards to gaming, they're being awfully quiet about it...

Main reason the mayor tech sites barely cover this is because their audience rather reads about the latest graphics card then 2133mhz vs 3200mhz and single vs dual channel.

Here is one of the more extreme examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XmCE7Qfbt4/

Good old GTA V, one of the early RAM speed dependant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cydy617dLeA

Far Cry Primal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz9hxy5axqo


You will get more results when looking for RAM speed benchmarks, which is basically the same.

The difference between 2015 and now is that we have a lot more RAM speed dependant games. RAM really started to care about RAM speeds after Fallout 4, not all of them but a lot do with some pretty big differences in performance.

[Washell]

Omega původně napsal:

No need to become hostile.

You have a weird definition of hostile... I just asked a polite question. I know, rare on the internet but still.

Anyway thanks for those. It makes an interesting case. Past tests of dual channel memory just looked at the average FPS, which even in those videos shows little to no difference. But looking at the lows tells a different story. Few people notice whether a game is running at 60 or 66 fps without a counter on screen, but a dip to 30 instead of 40 is very noticeable and jarring. Maybe it's not so much that something changed in the last two years as that we were all looking in the wrong place for the benefits.

[Omega]

Washell původně napsal:

Omega původně napsal:

No need to become hostile.

You have a weird definition of hostile... I just asked a polite question. I know, rare on the internet but still.

Anyway thanks for those. It makes an interesting case. Past tests of dual channel memory just looked at the average FPS, which even in those videos shows little to no difference. But looking at the lows tells a different story. Few people notice whether a game is running at 60 or 66 fps without a counter on screen, but a dip to 30 instead of 40 is very noticeable and jarring. Maybe it's not so much that something changed in the last two years as that we were all looking in the wrong place for the benefits.

O my mistake, getting tired. Misread something.

If you can take the 10 FPS for next to nothing by getting dual channel you would. People upgrade their GPU to get 10fps more.

[Tender Loins]

Well thanks for the info guys. I play a decent amount of open world games, but the majority are not. And the fact is, Im only gonna be on 1080p and using Vsync (60fps is gold for me) and my system should be able to crush that on any game, regardless of dual channel or not.

I was just making sure there was no BIG difference. Ill probably just buy another stick when/if i upgrade my monitor to 1440p... i dont care at all about 4k, and 1080p looks good to me still.

Great help guys, good sources.

[Kaihekoa]

Just exchange the RAM now while you can. You only need 32gb RAM for production work.