Dual Channel DDR SDRAM (double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM) takes all the features of ordinary DDR SDRAM and adds a second pathway to system memory to improve system performance and speed. This type of memory is optimized for high-end multimedia tasks involving video and audio.


Dual-Channel Asymmetric Mode

Dual-Channel Asymmetric Mode is a mode previously referred to as Single-Channel Mode on previous chipsets. This mode treats the memory in the two channels as one contiguous block, but has effectively the same performance as Single-Channel Mode (roughly half of Dual-Channel Interleaved Mode) .

Dual-Channel Interleaved Mode

Dual-Channel Interleaved Mode is what is typically thought of when referring to "dual-channel mode." This mode offers the maximum memory bus bandwidth and, therefore, the best performance. This configuration is the only one that will ship from the factories. If the system ends up in one of the other modes, it will be due to the customer adding his own memory.

To operate in Dual-Channel Interleaved Mode (optimum performance) the system simply needs to have both channels populated with the same amount of memory. For example: A dual-channel 1GB configuration could be populated with two 512MB sticks (one in each channel), or a 512MB stick in one channel and two 256MB sticks in the other channel.