4Gb dual channel vs 8Gb single channel

[waloshin]

I have 4 gigabytes of ram currently in dual channel and I am using more than 4 gigabytes so its swaping to my ssd. I have one stick on 8 Gbs that I plan to use. Will I see a performance decrease with just one stick.

 

[blanka]

Use both!
2+8=10
10GB will way outperform 4GB. Less swapping with HD/SSD is way more important than the slight dual channel benefit.
Cherry on the cake: the 2GB of the 8GB will still work dual channel with the other 2

 

[Dreadnought]

Or buy another 8GB stick. They're pretty cheap nowadays.

 

[waloshin]

Interesting...

4 Gb dual channel apple ram

8Gb single channel:

Both ram are 1600 Mhz

 

[h9826790]

NovaBench is not very accurate, GeekBench do a much better job.

Anyway, Use 2+8 should be the best option. There is no need to use matched pair on a Intel Mac.

Also, the current OSX is very good to fully utilise the RAM, more RAM means more cache, which means a faster machine. Therefore, a single channel 8G config should run better than a dual channel 4G system. In my observation, the OS itself can easily use up 6G of RAM (if available). 8G is definitely a better option for Maverick.

Moreover, unless you are doing some very RAM intensive job. You should not able the see any real world performance difference between single and dual memory channel config (even though there may be 6-8% overall performance in benchmarks).

 

[paulrbeers]

4 Gb dual channel apple ram

Image

8Gb single channel:

Image

Both ram are 1600 Mhz

If you are maxing out your RAM, then the few percentage points in overall system benchmarks, will be more than made up for by not using your SSD as virtual memory/swap.

 

[posnera]

I'm in the same situation. I have a late 2012 mini with 2+2 and want to add an 8gb card. Does it matter which slot is which for a 2+8 setup?

 

[Intell]

No, it does not matter which slot the 8GB stick goes into.