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2x 2gb + 1x 4gb on Dual Channel

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  • Dual Channel
  • Motherboards
  • Memory
Last response: in Memory
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October 1, 2014 3:48:24 AM

Hi all,

I have currently 1x 4gb Corsair Vengeance (1600mhz), on a MSI 970A-G43 motherboard.
Now i managed to get a hold of 2 x 2gb ram, also running at 1600mhz, but its cheaper ones from Samsung.
Can i just put those 2 in dual channel mode, and the 4gb apart?
Or will that actually slow down my system somehow?

Thanks!

More about : 2gb 4gb dual channel

a b V Motherboard
October 1, 2014 3:52:06 AM

It would be fine as long as the voltages and timings are all set the same, probably... boards do get finiky about ram.
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October 1, 2014 3:52:43 AM

i would just put in the 2x2 and take the 4 gig out. but, that's just me.
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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 1, 2014 9:18:42 AM

Whenever you add more ram to a system it is always advised to put in matched sets and/or kits when working with ram. Physically you will have 8GB of ram but as far as the components are concerned they will be mismatched both internally and ofc externally.

You should view ram being manufactured on assembly lines. A minor drop or even a bump in temperature during manufacturing will cause a slight change in timings and the voltage it will respond to. The process of binning for top tier kits requires a strict QC so kits work on the same level and this is how you end up with matched kits/sets.

To that end, if you do use any of the rams, You'd benefit with the dual channel kit and if they are Samsung's magic rams, then you would be in luck to get them to 1866MHz on 1.6v

So the choices are:
1| keep the ram as is
2| swap out Vengeance for Samsung
3| sell them off for a good price and get higher capacity kits provided you have productive work in your daily itinerary.

Hope this helps.
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October 1, 2014 1:03:54 PM

Thank you for the answers, and thank you Lutfij for that explanation, very helpful!

I understand going with only 2x2 samsungs will be the best option.

Any chance this is the magic ram you're talking about?

M378B5773CH0-CK0 Samsung 2gb Ddr3 1600mhz Pc3-12800 240pin Cl11 Non-S

http://www.amazon.com/M378B5773CH0-CK0-Samsung-1600mhz-...


Thanks!
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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 1, 2014 1:19:18 PM

No, the magic dimms I'm talking about are half height and go higher than 1866MHz on the 1.6~1.65v range.


You would eventually need to provide some heat spreaders to keep them in operating temperature and ofc for daily use if you went that high.

You're welcome. On second thoughts, would you be able to post what you see from the sticker posted on the samsung dimms?
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October 1, 2014 1:31:53 PM

Here is a pic, didn't put it in yet. Hope its clear enough :

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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 1, 2014 1:41:16 PM

I can't make out from the sticker but as far as I can see I can't see the voltages on the sticker. Only the timings and the speed.
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October 1, 2014 1:44:50 PM

I did some digging on internet and found following specs for it :

Supply Voltage-Max (Vsup) 1.58 V
Supply Voltage-Min (Vsup) 1.42 V
Supply Voltage-Nom (Vsup) 1.5 V

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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 1, 2014 2:08:32 PM

The only way to be sure is to use them and after firing up your system go into OS with CPU-Z and check out the Jedec specs under memory tab however I'll put my hunch on ti being 1.5v spec'd.

Just to be clear, you're not going to return or sell it right?

Use it in place of the Vengeance and in BIOS set voltage to 1.5v and manually key in the timings.
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a c 1790 V Motherboard
a c 2285 } Memory
October 1, 2014 2:11:21 PM

Since you have the sticks - try the 4GB in slot 1 and the 2x2GB in slots 3-4, if a Intel mobo or a newer AMD chances are they will run in dual (all) via Flex mode (Intel) or AMDs adaption of flex, try and see if the run and pop up in dual (can check in CPU-Z, the memory tab will show single or dual), then if need be we can adjust freq, timings and voltages
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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 1, 2014 2:14:25 PM

I wasn't aware of the flex technology used by Intel or a re-dubbed version by AMD on the 970 chipped mobo.
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a c 1790 V Motherboard
a c 2285 } Memory
October 1, 2014 2:30:40 PM

Flex itself, goes way back (2004-2205 or so), Amd has used a variant of it for quite awhile, but depends on mobo maker and mobo, I've seen some 970s where it worked, not alot, but don't get alot of AMD rigs in the shop

Here's a link to check:

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/cs...

also just found this, from right here at Tom's, though long before we came along

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-stakes-vision...
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October 2, 2014 3:34:07 AM

Small update, i forgot to enable xmp, thus the vengeance was still running at 1333.

This is after enabling xmp :

https://imageshack.com/i/kq8B85fkj
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Best solution

a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 2, 2014 3:52:51 AM

With the dimms you have:
Corsair Vengeance - 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
vs
Samsung - 1600MHz 11-11-11-28

With ram operating at 1600MHz, the lower the number the faster it is (which we call tighter timinigs) while the higher the number the looser the timings. In an APU environment, the timings wouldn't matter - only the frequency but when we talk of a platform like Intel's and AM(2/3+) socket boards(without an onboard GPU), the timings play a critical part in your system provided you are gaming, rendering and ofc doing productive choirs on your system.

Physically you have 8GB of ram on your system but the effectiveness would be erm crippled... Tradesman can shine some more light on this matter :) 

https://forums.ebuyer.com/showthread.php/78117-16GB-160...
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/299012-30-latency-spe...
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1778053/cas-late...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_latency
I don't think XMP will venture over to the Samsung Dimms.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1702196/mixing-c...

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October 2, 2014 6:07:31 AM

Thanks, ok so do I understand correct that I am best to go with only the single 4gb at 9clocks, and take out the samsungs 2x2 11clocks?

For the record, I do use it for some gaming, and I'm on a triple monitor setup.
I have a R9 290x with 4gb so that also helps for the graphic part tho.
Budgetwise I started out with that 4gb vengeance, to later upgrade with another 4.

Guess these samsungs won't do the trick then :) 
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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 2, 2014 6:25:44 AM

I'd ask you to try and sell all of the dimms and snag a proper kit - say 8GB. You may live it out until DDR4 trickles down in prices and probably you'll outlive the AMD platform for it to give up the ghost :) 

You can find some nice kits for a good price for second hand on ebay, craiglist or perhaps microcenter...?
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October 3, 2014 6:44:20 AM

Ty for those clear answers, if it weren't for those I would have been running a cripple system..!! :) 
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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 3, 2014 7:00:10 AM

Speaking of which we yet don't know your full systems specs :)  Perhaps we could provide a suggestion(or couple of suggestions) for a kit?

We would also need to know your location and maximum budget, mind you.

Thank you for selecting me as Best Answer!
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October 3, 2014 12:31:50 PM

This is what I am running atm :

CPU : AMD FX6300 3.5ghz 6-Core
GPU : Sapphire Radeon Dual-X R9 270x 4gb
Mobo : Msi 970a-g43
RAM : 4gb Corsair Vengeance 1600 single
PSU : Technet 500w
Case : Corsair Carbide 200R Case (front + back fan)
OS : Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit

My location is Belgium, I was hoping to find something decent for under 100€, preferably actually around 80, does that sound realistic?
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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 3, 2014 1:39:29 PM

Would you have any retailer sites you would be purchasing off of?
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a c 1790 V Motherboard
a c 2285 } Memory
October 4, 2014 2:58:01 PM

Lutfij

Might check on the Fury's, those run based on PnP (no XMP profile), and not sure if the 970 mobo is compatible with DRAM in PnP, many of the older AMD chipsets don't support plug and play w/ DRAM

http://www.kingston.com/us/hyperx/memory/fury
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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 5, 2014 1:56:02 AM

Yeah thanks for pointing that out! I missed that bit on the Fury's.

According to the mobo manual, this kit checks out on the QVL on MSI's site
http://www.kingston.com/en/memory/search/?partid=khx16c...

http://www.msi.com/file/test_report/TR10_2743.pdf

and the closest I could find on the site is Blue genesis DIMMS. I'm not familiar with AMD chipsets until the 890 series and the APU chipsets so I think you would be best qualified to provide a better suggestion! :) 
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a c 1790 V Motherboard
a c 2285 } Memory
October 5, 2014 8:43:41 AM

If on their QVL then should be good - wanted to be sure, have seen many where the Fury was a no go :) 
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a b V Motherboard
a b } Memory
October 5, 2014 10:04:11 AM

Yeah, understandable since most scenarios a kit/dimm won't work with a system and no matter what you do it just doesn't sit right.

I've also had experience with DIMMS unqualified for operation to run flawlessly on a majority of systems. I've even had a friend who managed to run more ram in his system than what was spec'd by Intel on its chipset.

Motherboard /chipset in question is an Asus Rampage Extreme x48 and he put 16GB of G.Skill ram into it with an overclock as well ;)  The lot of us scratched our heads in awe as the maximum ram limit for the x48 is 8GB.
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a c 1790 V Motherboard
a c 2285 } Memory
October 5, 2014 12:16:35 PM

A lot of X48s, in fact most needed additional MC voltage when 16GB and over.....also back then (and on occasion today, DRAM testing was simply put the sticks in and if it boots 'they are good', that was booting to to the mobos default....they also used the mmost powerful CPU available for the platform (which will have a stronger MC....sort of like the FX CPUs from AMD, they state they can run UP to 1866 at one stick per channel, originally it was just they can run up to 1866 - but once the Bulldozers were released there was a flood of complaints people couldn't get 1866 to work with 4x4GB, the lower end FXs couldn't run 1866 at all or at best w/ a pair of 2GB sticks, things like that
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