3 Sticks in a Dual Channel LGA 1155

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voyager1

voyager1

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I "upgraded" from a LGA 1366 triple channel setup to a LGA 1155 dual channel setup.
I used 2 sticks from my Kingston 3 stick kit [KHX1600C9D3K3/12GB] for the new build, giving me an extra stick that I have held on to.
The last couple of days I have been playing with Photoshop's 3D effects, and have been running out of memory.
Apparently, 8GB of RAM does not feed its need.
I looked around and "choked" on the pricing on RAM right now, about $100 for a 2 stick equivalent kit.
So, I installed the 3rd stick into my present board.
It boots and shows 12GB of RAM.
Because of recently resetting the BIOS on my newer PC, It is no longer OC'd.

Now, can I expect this 12GB of RAM to feed more of PS's need, or will I loose effectiveness because of the unpaired stick?

How about buying a single stick of equivalent RAM to pair up with the extra stick?
Any potential benefit?

EDIT:
I just looked at the P8Z77-V board's manual.
It says that a single stick is to be installed in slot A-2 as a single channel operation.
Then, a 2 stick dual channel operation will have the 2nd stick in slot B-2.
Because of having a Noctua CPU cooler installed access to slot A-1-2 is interfered with.
So, I installed the 3rd stick in slot B-1.
If it will make a difference, I could pull the CPU cooler, and move the 3rd stick to slot A-1.
So, will it make a difference?
 
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You are losing dual channel and that means 4%-7% of overall system performance. However in your case where you are actually running out of RAM the extra RAM is helping you more than the slight loss of system performance. I would leave it until you can afford a matched set.

Now you only have to match size in channels for dual channel. So if you have 2 x 4GB sticks you can buy a kit of 2 x 2GB sticks ( matching voltage, speed and cas latency of what you have now of course ) and still use dual channel mode. That would help as far as price goes. You may truly need a full 16GB for Photoshop to perform optimally though.
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You are losing dual channel and that means 4%-7% of overall system performance. However in your case where you are actually running out of RAM the extra RAM is helping you more than the slight loss of system performance. I would leave it until you can afford a matched set.

Now you only have to match size in channels for dual channel. So if you have 2 x 4GB sticks you can buy a kit of 2 x 2GB sticks ( matching voltage, speed and cas latency of what you have now of course ) and still use dual channel mode. That would help as far as price goes. You may truly need a full 16GB for Photoshop to perform optimally though.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Check in CPU-Z, think the mobo supports Flex mode, so should be running 8GB in dual channel and the oddball 4 in single channel, should be no loss, if any lag at all cna raise DRAM voltage + 0.05 perfectly safe, might even be able to increase it more by dropping the CR to 1T, is probably on 2T
 
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voyager1

voyager1

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Thanks anort3. from your answer I infer that all I need to do is pick up a single stick of the same matching memory to complete the dual channel configuration for the second pair.
While I haven't gone back and tried the 3 stick configuration in PS yet, I also am wondering if I won't need more than 12GB of RAM to run it.
While you were posting your answer I was adding my edit above. Any thoughts on that?

EDIT:
Thanks Tradesman1,
You posted while I was doing this.
I'll look into it.

 
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^ Yep. That's the one downside to the big air coolers. They can be a pain when having to add or move RAM around.
 
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voyager1

voyager1

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@anort3 & Tradesman1

I had been side tracked by life, and finally got back to this.
I tried the same PS 3D operations and was able to complete them.
Although, I think that as I try more complex operations, I will need more RAM.
The extra stick seems to work OK in the easily accessed slot.
I am going to look around to see if I can obtain a single stick of the same RAM.

I have noticed that Kingston has 2 types of the "same RAM".
When looking at the spec sheets for them, I see no difference in them.
One, the type that I have is:
KHX1600C9D3
The other is:
KHX1600C9D3B1
[I have removed the portion of the part number that refers to the kit type - K2/8GX]
The 1st, the type that I have, is running about $100 a pair.
The 2nd is about $85 a pair.

What is the difference in them?
I am just curious as to what the difference is.
I will be looking for the 1st type.

 
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