They reach the best memory bandwidth when both memory channels have 2-rank modules

Jan 23, 2014 09:34 GMT  ·  By

Consumer RAM makers have begun to distinguish between single and dual ranked DIMMs recently, so AMD has decided to say which works best with its new Kaveri APUs.

Well, that's not quite true. It was an investigative report from ComputerBase that revealed that information.

And by “that information” we mean that AMD's new A-Series accelerated processing units work best, or reach the best memory bandwidth, when both memory channels have 2-rank DIMMs.

A rank is an independent set of DRAM chips. In dual-rank modules, there are two, both connected to the same address and data buses. When one rank is active, the other is not.

Kaveri can maximize bandwidth on such modules (even though there are some with even four ranks) and, thanks to DDR3-2400 support, can push system performance 15.2% higher than on DDR3-1866 memory.

To check if you have dual-rank memory, you'll need software like AIDA64 (MotherboardSPD tab). Modules with chips on both sides of the PCB usually are dual ranked, but that's not a reliable way to check.

AMD + Dual-Rank DIMM (4 Images)

AMD A-Series Kaveri APU
AMD A-Series Kaveri APUs and dual-rank memoryAMD A-Series Kaveri APUs and dual-rank memory
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