A short while ago I wrote about how 2GB of memory is becoming the standard for gaming computers and enthusiast computers. Well today, Techgage takes a look at the possibility of 4GB and sees whether it can match up to the performance of 2GB options.
There have been many misperceptions and problems associated with 4GB or memory. For a long time there were issues with Windows not being able to take this much memory, or sometimes motherboards that could not actually support this much. Well, most of those are not issues anymore, especially with newer stuff that has sorted out many of those problems from before.
As outlined in the article, the main issue that comes in is a speed issue. The timings that are available for 2GB (1GB x 2) are much better than those available for 4GB (1GB x 4), which results from the amount of strain that the memory controller can take, and with 4 sticks it cannot take full speed.
These differences become most noticeable during gaming, especially games like F.E.A.R. which place a heavy strain on your whole computer. These differences are noticed less by designers who use programs like Photoshop, where the main emphasis is on more, rather than speed.
The results of testing showed a drop in performance in almost every situation, except where the motherboard ran and Intel chipset with an Intel processor. This is because the memory timings are already at the slower 2T speed setting, so it retains those settings for 4 sticks of memory.
Basically, if you want 4GB for now, suck it up and wait. With the introduction of 4GB as 2 sticks of 2GB, you will be able to take advantage of more memory without the drawbacks of 4 sticks of memory.
Tomshardware does a breakdown comparing the difference between memory set with tight timings and memory set at high frequencies.