Ganged vs Unganged RAM mode: which is faster and stable?


First of all it should be emphasized that Ganged does not mean dual channel and Unganged single channel, or the opposite: both modes support dual channel, if you use pairs of similar RAM sticks in the proper slots of the motherboard. Ganged means you will have a large 128bit pipe, and unganged means you will have a 2 x 64bit pipes.

Unganged mode is supposed to help multi-threaded applications, but actually there is no great difference – while, on the other hand, at least on some system configurations, unganged mode seems to be more unstable, leading to misuse of memory and crashes.

If you have 2 or 4 sticks of RAM and experience stability problems, try to change to Ganged mode if you are in Unganged mode –or the opposite if you are not– and most probably your problem will be solved. In BIOS settings Ganged is selected by the “Auto” option, while Unganged by the “Always” option.

Personally, I experience a more stable and fast system using Ganged dual channel mode with 2 x 4GB sticks of RAM.