Stick Location...

[darkfa8]

I have two sticks of Crucial DDR3 RAM, 2 x 2GB.

My mobo is a gigabyte ga-ma785gmt-ud2h, cpu cooler is a Xigmatek hdt-s1283

I currently have the sticks installed in the 1st 2 slots closest to the CPU. This puts one of the sticks pretty much under the edge of the cpu cooler.

I have read and seen in various articles and user photos of those with 2 sticks moving the sticks to the slots closer to the edge of the board.

Is there is a thermal benefit to doing this?

Are there any downsides, or does the BIOS not really care what slots the sticks are in as long as their grouped together in two slots close to eachother?

 

[LoneWolf_53]

The recommendation is to use the first two memory slots as you have done however it wouldn't hurt to try the outside slots if the end result is better airflow.

You should be fine either way as the cooling fins of the Xigmatek are for the most part above the memory sticks anyway and the proximity to the CPU is a common thing on most boards.


My own preference is to go with the manufacturer recommendations as I feel they are best qualified to inform us what optimum placement is on their product.

 

[darkfa8]

Best answer selected by darkfa8.

 

[andy5174]

You lose the benefit of dual channel by inserting your RAM into the first two slots!

To enable Dual Channel, you have to insert your RAM into the 2nd and 4th slots counting from the left!

 

[LoneWolf_53]

Actually I believe that to be incorrect.

The manual memory installation instructions are on page 16 and are written in a manner that could well be misleading.

It mentions the Channels being 1 and 3 with 2 and 4 being the other however the chart shows no such placement.

Additionally it clearly states that to enable dual channel mode you must use the same color sockets which the picture of that board shows as being the first two sockets or the second two sockets.

The sockets are color coded for a reason so if instructions come off as iffy then there's always that to fall back on.

 

[andy5174]

Actually I believe that to be incorrect.

The manual memory installation instructions are on page 16 and are written in a manner that could well be misleading.

It mentions the Channels being 1 and 3 with 2 and 4 being the other however the chart shows no such placement.

Additionally it clearly states that to enable dual channel mode you must use the same color sockets which the picture of that board shows as being the first two sockets or the second two sockets.

The sockets are color coded for a reason so if instructions come off as iffy then there's always that to fall back on.

Yeah, I am wrong. I just realized that AMD MB from Gigabyte use different configuration as Intel ones after reading the manual just downloaded.