is ram specified as Dual Channel better?

[sharky]

Another question, and thanks again for all the help you guys. I appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions.

I am looking at OCZ ram, they have their performance version, and their 'special' Dual channel version, which is $20 more total for 512mb. Is this "Dual Channel" just a marketing gimick? Is it better than the performance series, which has the same CAS rating?

[ricercar]

Many vendors manually hand-test their DDR in pairs to guarantee dual-channel performance. Mushkin and Corsair do this, and apparently this is what OCZ is charging you $20 for: the guarantee that the two modules you buy are going to work in Dual-Channel Mode.

Without such guarantee, a pair of DDR modules may not perform in dual-channel mode, even if they are identical in capacity and manufacturer. I've read of this happening with Kingston or Crucial DDR, especially in MSI and ASUS nForce2 motherboards. However, I've personally never had this happen with my non-matched Corsair or Mushkin. None the less, I have paid for dual-channel pairs from these vendors when I set up a system that MUST work at highest performance.