Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > General Motherboard > Amd only 4dimm slots?
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tallywho   05-19-2009 at 07:00:17 AM

why is it that amd socket type mother boards only ever have 4 dimm slots at the most? Intel based boards i have seen have anywhere from 4 to 8 dimms. I have not understood this and has been driving me nuts as I use amd proc, and have 2 extra sticks of 1x2g of ram and noticed that you can't get an amd based motherboard with more than 4. If someone knows why this is i would greatly appreciate to be informed. i have searched forums and no one has an answer for me. thanks

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rockford   05-19-2009 at 07:15:36 AM

Intel Core i7 and their x58 chipset support triple-channel memory, so you will frequently see up to 6 DDR3 slots in an Intel-based mobo based on the x58 chipset.

AMD has not developed that technology yet.

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tallywho   05-19-2009 at 07:21:32 AM

ok so it has to do with the chipset technology then... i kinda figured as much but for the life of me it was frustrating cuz my board supports up to 16 gigs, yet it only has 4 dimms and i dont want to drop 2 grand on special 4 gig sticks to achieve this... i noticed on new egg that that stuff is far and few between and i was like wow 6 dim slots would really be nice cuz 1x2 gig sticks are so cheap. but i guess thats somthing that i will have to look into doing then is switching to an intel board. that kinda pisses me off that amd is that stupid and won't fix that issue with there chipset... i do a lot of graphic work, and having 12 gigs would be wonderful.

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random1283   05-19-2009 at 08:55:04 AM

oh and just for your information the intels board with 8 slots can only use 4 at a time as 4 of those slots will de DDR2 the other 4 DDR3 so far 6 useable slots is the most for desktop pc

------------------------------ Core 2 duo E6750@ 3.72ghz,Geil ultra 2gb 800hmz @1050mhz 5-5-5-15,
Asus P5K mobo,74gb raptor,250gb WD sata hdd,
His ICEQ 4 4850 512 Turbo,Pioneer sata 18X dvd writer,

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tallywho   05-19-2009 at 11:09:43 AM

oh ok thanks thats good to know. ya im looking at a 6 slot 12 gigs will be enough for what im doing. thanks

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hunter315   05-19-2009 at 05:32:15 PM

Its not a chipset issue anymore, its because AMD processors support dual channel, and Intel specifically made the i7 support triple channel. The chipset no longer affects the memory layout as the memory controllers are being built into the chip, you will notice that all boards prior to the i7 only support the use of 4 dimms at a time so its not an AMD issue, its just that intel broke the custom of 4 and went for 6.

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gamerk316   05-19-2009 at 07:02:45 PM

Technically, 6 Dimms made sense for tri-channel RAM; whats the point of 4 slots for Tri-channel?

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hunter315   05-19-2009 at 08:49:13 PM

Smaller cheaper motherboards, thats about it

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Scotteq   05-19-2009 at 08:53:21 PM

gamerk316 wrote :

Technically, 6 Dimms made sense for tri-channel RAM; whats the point of 4 slots for Tri-channel?



So people can run dual channel mode, should they choose to do so.

------------------------------ Which Chip? Well, it depends on which set of thieving b@stardz you choose to support: The ones who use insider trading to enrich themselves while running their company into the ground? Or the ones who illegally pay vendors to not support the first group?
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gamerk316   05-20-2009 at 02:21:39 PM

They can do that anyway, just use 2 out of 3 Dimms per channel. Hence, why almost all i7 mobo's have either 3 or 6 slots.

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