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I posted this in General but did not get many helpful replies.  

I have an Intel i7 chip Quad core @2.67GHz.  I am running Windows Vista (64 bit)

There are six available slots for DDR3 RAM.  The computer came with three 1Gig Ram sticks.  They are in alternating slots.  I bought a 4Gig stick recently and want to know where I should install it?  

How would you install these four RAM sticks in your system?  If you would just get two more 4Gig sticks that's fine, but also tell me what you would do if all you had was one 4Gig and three 1Gig sticks.

Thank you

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return the 4gb stick.
You need to run triple channel, which means 3 sticks.

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OK, so if I were to get two more 4Gig sticks should I keep the 1Gig sticks in too?  Or, should I only use the 4Gig sticks?

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return the 4gb stick.
You need to run triple channel, which means 3 sticks.

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You would more than likely only use the 4 gig chips, but at the same time, you're probably putting in more ram than your computer can handle. i.e. it probably maxes our at 6 gigs, so you really should have gotten 3x 2 gig ram sticks.
Again, no one, without knowing which MB you have can give you a 100% correct answer.

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You would more than likely only use the 4 gig chips, but at the same time, you're probably putting in more ram than your computer can handle. i.e. it probably maxes our at 6 gigs, so you really should have gotten 3x 2 gig ram sticks.

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Again you'll need to reference the manual for your motherboard, but most MOBOs will have the RAM slots color coordinated (usually black/blue or white/blue). You use alternating slots when you only have 3 sticks of RAM on an X58 MOBO. Usually this alternating set starts at the slot closest to the CPU socket, so from left to right it's slots 1, 3, 5. On VERY RARE occasions it can be 2, 4, 6, but since your computer came with some RAM installed and working just go with that.

Now the bit about triple channel memory means, basically, that if you want to run in triple channel you have to install RAM in multiples of 3. So it's 3 sticks or 6. If you have 2 or 4 sticks of RAM you're gonna run in Dual Channel. Triple Channel is way better on white paper, but real world performance won't be noticed by most users. But still, if you have a triple channel MOBO you want to go with it right? Cause these things aren't cheap!

I wouldn't advise throwing a 4GB stick into a triple channel set of 3GB. You'd be better off taking everything out and putting in just the one 4GB set for now. You can add another 4GB stick to slot 3 (cause if you only have 1 stick you put it in slot 1 right?), and then maybe slot 5. Many people will tell you that 12GB of RAM is a stupid waste of money, and they may be right; but I like downloading movies + decrypting a DVD + encoding a DIVX movie + listening to music + playing an old game (Jane's Fighter's Anthology) in Windows XP Mode, roger!?!

So fill your RAM slots in this order: 1, then 3 and 5, then 2 and 4 and 6. If you're running 1 stick, put it in slot 1. If you're running 2 sticks, use 1 and 3. 3 sticks: 1 and 3 and 5. 4-5 sticks: just don't. Why would you?

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You don't know what board he has, but know that it likely tops out at 6gb?



OP, run Triple Channel. Get 2 more identical sticks of 4gb and run 12GB triple.
 

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I'd probably get 3 *IDENTICAL* 4gb sticks.  Note and re-note the IDENTICAL bit, because if they are not IDENTICAL all sorts of fun things may or may not happen.

Sorry, got burned a while back by a guy I know who asked me how to upgrade RAM.  I told him "Buy this kit off crucial.com for your system".  He went around telling people "Hey look, I saved money over this guy's recommendation by getting this brand X dimm and this brand Y dimm".  Of course over the next 3 months his system crashed constantly, and he whined at me.  Idiots.

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If you weren't ESL you'd know that i.e. means "EXAMPLE," I was simply using this as an example.  Also, if you bothered to read my other post NO ONE, not even you Pedro, can tell him what the specs of his MB are without knowing which MB he has.  Comprende amigo?

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This was likely due to the memory he bought just being defective or too slow for the system (or the bios was changed to a set speed from 'auto'); there's no need for sticks to be identical, though I do prefer it as well –– it looks better.

So long as all the sticks meet the minimum requirements for timing and are the same capacity, they'll work in double or triple channel.  The chipset will detect the slowest stick in the bunch and run them all at that speed.

Also it appears that all the triple channel chipsets that Intel produces can run in single or double channel mode, so there's no need to buy sticks in triplet if you're on a budget.  In this case the single 4GB is probably fine, as it leaves slots open for additional 4GB modules later, provided the board can support that much RAM.

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If he thinks he needs more than 3g, he *probably* does not want to wreck his performance by going from 3*dimm speed (ish) to dimm speed.  YMMV

After all these tests you need to ask yourself: What the heck is that triple channel mode useful for anyway, when it is obvious that is doesn’t provide performance boost that is expected? Maybe in the future and with some new versions of memory controllers, triple channel mode will provide better performances so transition to this platform will make more sense. Until that moment triple channel mode will be just another nice sticker on LGA 1366 motherboards and memory packages.

We ran the entire benchmark suite once with each of the memory configurations. Our conclusion? It doesn’t matter much to the Core i7, with its 1 MB L2 cache and 8 MB L3 cache, whether it is running its memory in a triple-, dual-, or single-channel configuration. In everyday tasks, there is absolutely no tangible performance difference: the performance delta between a tri-channel and a single-channel configuration is only 2% on average. If you already own a dual-channel DDR3 memory kit and are planning to switch to the Core i7, you don’t need to spend the extra money on a third module to run your system in tri-channel mode.

Although three channels of DDR3 memory might seem excessive, the Core i7 really does seem to make good use of faster memory, at least in synthetic tests. But that was to be expected. The real question is whether those gains translate to real-world applications, and it's here that the results are more mixed. Certainly, in scientific computing tests like Euler3d and MyriMatch, which we already know to be sensitive to memory subsystem performance, faster memory can provide tangible performance perks. However, common desktop applications like those highlighted by WorldBench don't benefit much from higher memory clocks or tighter timings. Neither do most games, which at best show minor frame rate improvements that aren't significant enough for most folks to even notice, let alone appreciate.

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some say tripple channle and dual channel yield little real world performance and that who might be better with simply "more ram"