Is it faster to have four times 2 GB or two times 4 GB of RAM with a dual-channel mainboard?

Four sticks would cause more strain on the memory controller and motherboard chipset. It would take slightly longer for the CPU to add and retrieve data from four sticks as opposed to two. For this reason, 2 x 4 GB would be faster then 4 x 2 GB. EDIT - there is a much better technical explanation on The Hyphenated Site to enforce my answer, although it does mention lower sized sticks: It's better to use two 2 GB modules -- not for any appreciable speed difference (although there may be a small …