If you are currently using an ATX motherboard or a MATX motherboard, then there are a high probability that there will be four
memory slots on the motherboard. Have you ever thought about how great it would be if all four memory slots were filled? In fact, even if there are four memory slots on the motherboard, I do not recommend filling them up. The reason is simple. After all four memory sticks are filled up, the performance will actually become weaker.
The memory channels supported by consumer-grade processors are generally dual-channel, while processors for commercial fields will provide quad-channel or octal-channel support. Even if four memory sticks are inserted, it is not quad-channel but dual-channel. The theoretical speed will not be significantly different from the speed of correctly inserting two memory sticks to form a dual-channel.
It is not recommended to use four memory sticks. You will know after reading this.
Even if they are all dual-channel, why is it better to insert only two sticks than four? The reason lies in the memory frequency. When only two sticks are inserted, the memory can easily run to the rated frequency, and there is no problem. But when four sticks are fully inserted, the situation becomes a little complicated. Generally, after four sticks of memory are fully inserted, the frequency at which the memory can work normally is often lower than the nominal frequency. For example, DDR5 4 800MHz memory , if two sticks of memory are inserted, the frequency is still 4800MHz, but if four sticks of memory are fully inserted, the memory frequency may drop to 4000MHz, otherwise it will not be able to run stably.
This will naturally affect the actual performance. Taking DDR5 4800MHz memory as an example, when two memory sticks are inserted to form a dual channel, the actual memory performance is: memory read 74975MB/s, write 68123MB/s, copy 67952MB/s, and latency 79.6ns.
It is not recommended to use four memory sticks. You will know after reading this.
If four DDR5 4800MHz memory sticks are inserted, its performance becomes as follows: read 62705MB/s, write 60898MB/s, copy 61452MB/s, and latency 101.4ns.
It is not recommended to use four memory sticks. You will know after reading this.
It is obvious from the results that the performance of memory reading, writing and copying has decreased to varying degrees, and the latency will become higher. This is why it is recommended that you only use two memory sticks to form a dual channel, and there is no need to use four sticks.
This situation not only occurs on desktop computers, but also on laptops. Yes, some laptops provide four memory slots, usually flagship gaming laptops. After all four memory sticks are inserted, the memory frequency will also drop.
It is not recommended to use four memory sticks. You will know after reading this.
Since fully populating the motherboard will reduce performance, why do motherboard manufacturers provide four memory slots? In fact, the main purpose of four memory slots is to allow users to have larger memory capacity. In other words, when the task you need to handle is more important to memory capacity than memory frequency, then it makes sense to fully populate the motherboard with four memory sticks.
For example, creation, modeling and other work, this kind of work has a very high demand for memory capacity. If the memory capacity does not reach a certain level, even the efficiency of running professional software will be much lower. On the contrary, the memory frequency will not improve work efficiency. In this case, there is no problem at all to insert four memory sticks.
It is not recommended to use four memory sticks. You will know after reading this.
However, for most ordinary users, I believe that they mainly play games and do daily office work. These needs do not have too strict restrictions on memory capacity. On the contrary, the higher the memory frequency, the faster the processing speed, especially for games, which still consume a lot of memory bandwidth. In this case, it is naturally enough to insert two memory sticks to form a dual channel.
In summary, for consumer-grade hardware, even if four memory sticks are fully inserted, it is still dual-channel, and the memory bandwidth will not be improved. On the contrary, because after fully inserting the memory, higher requirements are placed on the motherboard wiring and the processor’s memory controller, the memory can only run stably at a lower frequency, which reduces the memory performance. For users such as players, the importance of memory frequency is greater than memory capacity, so inserting two memory sticks to form a dual channel is sufficient. For users such as creators, the importance of memory capacity is greater than memory frequency, so inserting four memory sticks is very helpful.