dearth of 4GB DDR2 800 memory modules: performance disadvantage?

Question

I notice there are very few single 4GB DDR2800 chips available vs. 4GB in 2x2GB format. Why is this? I want to go up from 8GB on my LGA775 system to increase memory available on my virtual machines: I like to have a Win32 and Centos box running while consuming only half my available RAM.

Is the lack of single 4GB modules on the market a reflection on lack of demand, or is there a technical reason why one would not want to install 12GB or more on their PC?

Answer 1

The problem is that 4 GiB modules are very expensive to manufacture using technology used for manufacture of DDR2 chips and at the time they were new, such density of RAM was considered very large for home computers, so they weren't developed. By the time they became interesting, DDR3 became new standard and it's much easier to manufacture DDR3 chips o such density than it is for DDR2 chips.

Another thing that comes to mind is chipset and motherboard compatibility. Back when DDR2 was young, many chipsets and motherboards didn't support high density chips.

EDIT I'm assuming that you mean DDR2 800 modules. Never heard of DDR2800.