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RAM placement

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by norehca

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I've been building computers for a while now, and its one of my stronger points in the technical field. But what I've always wondered is what slot should each stick of RAM be placed. Now when all sticks of RAM are the same speed and size, its obvious to me it doesn't matter where there placed, but what if one of the sticks is larger than the other. Should this be placed in the first DIMM slot? The last? and what if on stick is faster than the others, should it be placed first or last? Or does it not matter at all. Ive always put the fastest/biggest first. much appreciated for any help.

4 replies

by mjd420nova

I've tried many different approaches to this and have not noticed any real difference. In the old days of 64Kb chips, they had to be grouped in sets of 8 or 9 depending on the manufacturer of the option board. Groups had to be the same speed and in some cases, the same manufacturer. I do out of habit put the largest first and the fastest first.

by georgeou

Usually doesn't matter, but you should fill up pairs (equal size and speed) especially if you're on a modern Intel Motherboard. Intel boards prefer dual-channel.

by thechas

As a general rule, you have it right. For most motherboards, the largest RAM module should go into the first RAM slot.

On speed however, I would install the slowest RAM in the first slot. The system cannot run any faster than the slowest RAM, and a number of motherboards set their RAM speed by what is in the first slot.

With SDRAM DIMMs, you can pretty much mix and match the size of the modules.

With DDR and dual channel, we are back to the days of SIMMs where RAM needs to be installed in matched pairs.

Chas

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