RAM component configuration

[redsteven]

I'm looking to upgrade my 8,2 Macbook Pro (early 2011 15" quad i7) to 8 gigs of ram. I'll probably go with one of these (unless somebody else has a better suggestion):
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=82E796F8A5CA7304
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/1333DDR3S08S/

The only major difference I see is the component configuration.
Crucial is using a 512x64 configuration. I asked them about how those numbers worked out, and they told me to divide by 8 (so I guess it's 512 megabits instead of 512megabytes.) Anyway, that comes out to 64 MB * 64

OWC looks like they're using 256MB*16 (although I have to check with them on that because it also says "Comp. Config: 128Meg x 8" on that same page, which doesn't make any sense.

ANYWAY, does the component configuration have any effect on RAM performance?

 

[ginsek]

I'm looking to upgrade my 8,2 Macbook Pro (early 2011 15" quad i7) to 8 gigs of ram. I'll probably go with one of these (unless somebody else has a better suggestion):
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=82E796F8A5CA7304
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/1333DDR3S08S/

The only major difference I see is the component configuration.
Crucial is using a 512x64 configuration. I asked them about how those numbers worked out, and they told me to divide by 8 (so I guess it's 512 megabits instead of 512megabytes.) Anyway, that comes out to 64 MB * 64

OWC looks like they're using 256MB*16 (although I have to check with them on that because it also says "Comp. Config: 128Meg x 8" on that same page, which doesn't make any sense.

I wonder if you were able to figure out anything on that since I have exact the same question and so far I didn't find any explanation that would make me help with the decision. I just notice that OWC has now slightly different info on their site - Comp. Config: 256Meg x 8, not the 256Meg x 16 or 128Meg x 8.

 

[redsteven]

OWC corrected their site after I alerted them to the math error.

As far as the performance of different RAM configurations, this is what they said:

You raise a very good question. The different configurations of the memory will not affect the performance of the memory. The primary determining factor is the overall memory on your computer. The minor differences in the memory configuration on the memory board only translate into fractions of a second difference, so nothing really noticeable.

When I pressed and asked "In THEORY then, which would be faster? " he said:

Theoretically the smaller amount of modules would be faster. So 512MBx4 > 64MBx32.

I ended up purchasing from Crucial because of how much cheaper it was (~12 dollars or so). OWC offers trade-ins for your old RAM, but I was able to get just as much (technically, a couple of dollars more) by selling it in marketplace forum on this website, though if you don't want to have to deal with selling it, the trade-in you get from OWC might cancel out most of the difference in price.

And if it means anything, the Crucial RAM was actually the same EXACT brand/type that Apple had installed (Samsung's "Green" line)... though the country of manufacture was slightly different.
Though I'm sure OWC's would work fine too.