Can one mem slot of triple channels be left empty?

[alleey]

On an Intel DX58S0 mobo for i7, can I put in two mem-sticks in two of the three triple channel slots and leave the third empty? I've already read that it doesn't matter whether all the sticks are of the same size.

What would happen if I put a stick in the single channel slot and one in the triple channel slot?

Unfortunately since I haven't bought the processor yet I cannot try out myself and therefore any expert advice would be great.

Thanks

 

[merlinbadman]

Yeah you can use just two sticks but it will only run in dual channel, not triple channel. Look at your mobo manual to see the momory configuration, I would think that it would want you to use slots 1 & 2 for dual channel.

Since you are only using two sticks I thake it that you are using DDR3 from an older system? Make sure the RAMs voltage requirements do not exceed 1.65V. That is the limit for X58 mobo's / i7 CPU's

 

[alleey]

Thanks.

Actually a vendor suggested DX58SO and two "Kingston DDR3 2x2GB pc1333" for a core-i7 with 4GB RAM. But then I saw a review on youtube and it said that the mobo supports 3 triple channel slots and one single channel, so I wondered whether I would need 2 sticks or 3.

 

[o1die]

Depends on the board; I just saw a deal at ewiz (superbiz) on 6 gb of supertalent ddr3 for $110, with no rebates. That's a pretty good price.