Is this required? Does it break stuff if you just stick em in in any configuration?

Is this required? Does it break stuff if you just stick em in in any configuration?

You don't get dual+ channel

2 sticks in same color = dual channel ram = ram sticks work together to send data to the cpu = more bandwidth = cpu can read data quicker.

No, but the os will stripe contiguous memory across sticks if they are in proper configs allowing for better latency during page faults.

I've heard somewhere once that you should always start with the pair color that is farthest away from the CPU, so like pic related. Have been doing it this way forever. Is there any truth to this?

No, cuz my Intel board wanted Dimm A1 A2 to be populated first which are the closest to the CPU, while my Ryzen board wanted B1 B2 to be populated first.

some mobos don't work unless you place sticks in the order they recommend

You won't have dual channel active if it isn't installed properly.

You also run the risk of instability or bad performance using mismatch'd speed or timing specs

As others have said,

> not required
> doesn't break stuff if you do it wrong
but two sticks of RAM of the same type in the same channel slots is highly recommended to run the memory in dual channel and there really is a difference in performance.

I should add,

if you have two sticks of RAM and 4 slots and you put them in A1 and A2 then you get all the RAM space you'd get with A2 and B2 but A1+A2 gives you two single channels and A2+B2 gives you one dual channel. Dual channel is faster so this is what you want.

That it's not required and works but runs slower doesn't mean you should do it wrong.

For what its worth, my machine wouldn't POST with RAM in slots A1 & B1; only A2 & B2. I'm sure there's a reason for this but I haven't looked into why.

It won't boot on am4 if you leave channel2 empty. It's platform specific and I don't know who thought it was a good idea. On other platforms it shouldn't matter, though inserted sticks will define your channel configuration.

But that means electricity has to travel a longer distance between the CPU and RAM.
Won't that cause a system lag?

No, it prevents electrical infetterance

Actually possible, but not very much.

Fun fact, light travels ~30cm in a nanosecond. That's the scale of delay we are talking about, as electricity in a wire travels roughly something like 0.9 x C

To put that into perspective, if your GPU was on the other side of the earth from you, the delay would still be less than one thousandth of a second (with perfect wiring).

Close but also far:

The speed of a bound electron is much, much slower than c, often around the range of a quarter of a cm per second.
The electromagnetic signal propagating through the wire is what attains ~95% light speed.

Too bad the color coding isn't even standard and some manufacturers reverse the meaning.

It's motherboard specific. Check your motherboard manual.

>tfw just upgraded to 16 gb of ram

Probably grabbed some of the last cheap DDR3 model of ram I have in existence, but at least this will probably take my PC to its grave in terms of memory

You should always use the slots the motherboard/system manual says and not rely on some stupid hearsay.

More advanced motherboards use hole technology and LEDs to increase electrical speed. Though you have to be careful, obviously.

Fuck this is annoying. I have to check everytime I build a PC.