Dual / Triple Channel Operation

The Intel Core i7 supports up to 3 memory channels, which allow for triple-channel operation with 3 or 6 memory modules, or dual-channel operation with 2 or 4 memory modules. The advantage of using more than one memory channel is the much greater throughput. Each memory channel is 64-bits wide. By using more memory channels, the memory bandwidth is instantly doubled or tripled.

You can install DIMMs of different memory sizes in Channel A, Channel B and Channel C. The memory controller will automatically map the total size of the smaller-sized channel for dual-channel or triple-channel operation. Excess memory from the larger-sized channels will be mapped for single-channel operation. This flexibility of the memory controller allows for optimal performance even with odd or unmatched memory sizes.

For maximum performance though, it is recommended that you either use similarly-sized memory modules in all memory channels. That means if you have 6 GB of memory in the form of two 1 GB modules and two 2 GB modules, you can install the two smaller 1 GB modules into Channel A and the other two larger modules into Channels B and C, so that each channel has 2 GB of memory. This allows the memory controller to map all 6 GB of memory for triple-channel operation.

Recommended Memory Configurations

Based on the rules, here are the recommended memory configurations, based on the number of memory modules :

These are only recommended configurations for maximum performance. The Intel Core i7's memory controller is flexible enough to allow a much wider variety of memory configurations.

Single DIMM installed

Two DIMMs installed

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