RAM upgrade: single rank vs dual rank (1Rx8 vs 2Rx8)?

[praveenbv]

Hi@StevenQC, Welcome to HP Community!

I have gone through your post and would like to help

As per the Service Guide, the Notebook supports up to 32 RAMwith the same MHZ, 

https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c06954420

Hope that answers your question and you have a great day!

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[itsmyname]

> its motherboard mention that the 2 RAM slots are dual channel architecture

Yes, the memory-controller circuits on the motherboard are capable of using the "dual-channel" architecture, as well as operating two "unequal" sticks of RAM in "single-channel" mode.

If you use two sticks of RAM that fulfill the requirements of operating in "dual-channel" mode, then dual-channel mode will be used. However, if the two sticks have differing capacity, e.g., one 1 GB and one 4 GB, then there are 2 possibilities:

1. the first 1 GB on each stick will run as "dual-channel", and the other 3 GB will run as "single-channel";

2. all of the 5GB of RAM will run in "single-channel" mode.

If the speeds of the two sticks are different, but the capacity of the sticks are identical, the "faster" stick will run at the speed of the "slower" stick, and it will run in "dual-channel" mode.

[StevenQC]

Thanks Itsmyname, ok but what about two identical sticks but with differing number of ranks? That's my original question!!

In your answer you talk about "unequal sticks" and you give for example differing capacities or differing speed, etc... But, my question is about two identical sticks EXCEPT FOR THE NUMBER OF RANKS!! 

So, like I said previously, one stick is HyperX Fury 16GB 3200 2Rx8 (2 ranks), and the other stick is same everything except it's 1Rx8 (1 rank)...

So my original question is still "will these 2 sticks run in dual channel mode in my dual-channel compatible 2-RAM-slots Omen 30L?!!!

I can't find info about this specific notion in the HP documents, and very rarely in other sources of info, and when I do, they are contradictory... 

[DGroves]

i thought i made this clear.,,,,,,,,,,,,it appears i have not

you system has dual channel memory ability with only 2 dimm slots  USING DUAL MEMORY CONTROLLERS

EACH MEMORY  CONTROLLER IS CONNECTED TO ONE DIMM SLOT,  which allows different rank memory to be used as each dimm is on a different bank/memory controller if only one memory controller was used with 2 dimms then it would not work as each dimm slot is part of the same memory bank for most consumer systems

there are exceptions to this rule however mostly on workstations/servers although some consumer systems have memory controllers sophisticated enough to allow single/dual rank ram within a memory bank

Got it?

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/hp---compaq/omen-30l-gt13-0022no#memory

[StevenQC]

Hi DGroves! 

Yes, it was 90% clear... What was not yet clear to me was the following:

I knew that the 2 DIMM slots of my Omen 30L were Dual-Channel Architecture... BUT, what I didn't know is that they were actually also on DUAL MEMORY CONTROLLERS (which also means DUAL-BANK it seems)... I can't find that specific info in the documentations, so I take your word for it... (I still don't get why it's not mentionned in the HP documentation though...) 

So, with that supplement of info you gave me about the configuration of the RAM banks/controllers in my system, now it's 100% clear!!    

Thanks again!