DDR2 RAM DIMM went bad - keep 3 DIMMs or replace?

I had 16GB of DDR2 dual channel RAM on 4 4GB DIMMs on my Vista 64 rig. I started having random blue screen crashes and sure enough, the third DIMM has gone bad (tested with MemTest86+, removed DIMM and errors are gone).

I'm wondering, since this is dual channel, would Vista 64 and other 64-bit programs such as 3D rendering software suffer if I use 3 DIMMs? I don't really need to replace the bad DIMM but I don't want one of the three to go unused.

I guess my ? is; can the computer still use 12GB of RAM on 3 DIMMs in 'dual channel'? Would the third DIMM go unused, or used less, or something? :)

test it out? i mean you have the 3 memory stick installed so use something like cpuz etc and it should give you info if its running in dual or single channel mode

test it out? i mean you have the 3 memory stick installed so use something like cpuz etc and it should give you info if its running in dual or single channel mode

cyanblues

[QUOTE="cyanblues"]

test it out? i mean you have the 3 memory stick installed so use something like cpuz etc and it should give you info if its running in dual or single channel mode

sergioalb64

do some benchmark? like sandra's stuff and pcmark etc see if theres a neglible difference, if not then why worry aobut it