DDR3 Round-Up: Core i7 Performance Analysis
Channels / Bandwidth (Continued)
Using three or six memory modules to allow for a triple-channel DDR3 memory configuration is surely the best route to take with a new Core i7 system. Our synthetic memory bandwidth numbers showed huge differences between the configurations, but in terms of real-world performance, the differences were small. Triple channel memory is not the big time real-world performance bullet which many claim it to be, although it does help deliver much more raw memory bandwidth, which in specific situations, can help greatly. For most applications, though, you won't be touching this level of memory bandwidth, so it's not worth stressing about it too much.
