Can a computer run off 1 single stick of ram?

Question

Hello, am aware that this might come across as a strange question, but I am building a desktop PC for the very first time. I plan to play Battlefield 3 on it, and I ordered 4 GB of ram for it. I have a micro ATX Motherboard, and it's maximum RAM is 8 GB. It has 4 Ram slots. The Stick of ram is a single 4 GB stick. Will my computer be able to run like this, or do I need to get x2 2GB sticks of ram? Thanks, and here are the Tech specs of the new computer, In case it helps.
-Cooler Master Elite 350 RC350-KKR500 500W Power Supply Mid Tower Case (Black)
-Kingston Technology HyperX Blu 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM KHX1333C9D3B1/4G
-AS Rock FX Socket AM3 Plus NVIDIA GeForce 7025 A V GbE Micro ATX Motherboard N68C-GS
-AMD Athlon II X2 270 Regor 3.4 GHz 2x1 MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor
-Rosewill 300Mbps 802.11 b/g/n Wireless Adapter (RNX-N250PCe)
-EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1024MB GDDR5 DVI mHDMI Graphics Card 01G-P4-2650-KR
-Windows Vista 64 bit

Answer 1

no

Answer 2

YES you can.



Should you?



No!



Every modern system is created for at least dual channel memory. The 2nd stick doubles the bandwidth.

Answer 3

The first issue isn't how many sticks of RAM you intend on using, but the amount of memory that each stick possesses.



You're saying that you want to use 4GB for Battlefield 3, while it will "run", not optimally. I'd invest in 2X4GB RAM sticks. If you do end up with just one stick, make sure it's in the primary slot on the motherboard, or nothing will happen.



On a side note, if you're simply asking for the sake of the slots on the Motherboard, 2X2GB will perform better than 1X4GB.

Answer 4

No because it takes at least 32 bits to run an operating systems. If all 4 modules are in the slots your running it on 64 bits. You can only run an operating system on either 32 or 64 bits.

Answer 5

Most system boards will run off a single stick. Check the manual to make sure that board is one of the 99% that do.



Running "dual channel" with 2 modules gives a very small improvement.



Reason is that maybe only 10% of CPU operations actually access RAM. The others operate from internal registers or cache memory in the CPU. So even if the RAM is 50% faster, that speed up only applies to 10% of the operations. So you benchmark about 3 % better.



To some people that matters. On the real world, you don't notice.

Answer 6

If you have 4 RAM slots on your motherboard, that does not mean that you need to use all 4. Using just one will work without issue. However, the more ram you have, the smoother the computer will run. Gaming laptops normally using 12GB+ to operate smoothly depending on the game you are playing.

Answer 7

If it has 4 slots, but can only use 8 GB total, then it can probably only support 2 GB sticks. Unless it's a board that supports 2 sticks of DDR2 and 2 sticks of DDR3, then it'd probably support 4 GB sticks.



A website like Crucial can show the max RAM chips your motherboard supports. Or check the manufacturer's website.



As for 1 stick vs 2, using 2 sticks lets it run in dual channel mode, that theoretically doubles the speed of the RAM. Tests I've seen on this usually show that few programs will really benefit from dual channel mode. DDR2 might be a different case but usually you only need dual channel for using integrated graphics.

Answer 8

You state that you have an -AMD Athlon II X2 270 CPU. This supports DDR2 ram. As there are 2 slot for DDR2 and 2 Slots for DDR3 ram that means each slot supports up to 4GB ram cards making a total of 8GB.

AM3 CPU's will support ddr2 or ddr3 ram but not simultaneously.

AM3+ cpu's support only DDR3 ram

The ddr2 ram specs are DDR2 1066***/800/667/533 non-ECC, un-buffered memory



Using dual channel has proved in practice not to increase the speed appreciably

Answer 9

pls read the mobo specs online at the maker's website. you'll need the exact model number.



i did find a review online that claimed it works with only one stick of ram. and the next review said it is difficult to get going and HATES Nvidia gpu cards.

Answer 10

Depends on the motherboard, look it up on ther manufacturers site. You need to match the latency and clock rate allowed by the motherboard. Ddr, ddr2, and ddr3 are all different shapes too