Dual rank vs quad rank ddr3?
Dual rank vs quad rank ddr3?
Having additional ranks doesn't expand the data width. The module has a fixed maximum size. Accessing chiplets is slower on a quad-rank setup compared to dual or single ranks, which explains why consumer RAM usually offers one of the other options. If your system is a server, things change because quad-rank provides high capacity and limited motherboard slots—making it a worthwhile choice.
By this stage, using 2GB SSDs with 16GB partitions seems unusual and probably outdated tech that needs its speed adjusted to avoid slow performance at 1066 or 800MHz. No surprise why quad-rank isn’t helpful—interesting to learn. As a fun thought, DDR2 might gain from quad-rank, but you’d mostly need it for 8GB or more, except in the very rare 4GB variants.