Do I really need more than 6GB of RAM?

Well, honestly, it's hard to say how much RAM will be the norm in 4 years. Chances are the computer is gonna seem "slow" by then anyway. But i'd still go the ASUS board anyway, better quality.

6GB is fine probably for a while, though i would go for the ASUS board

You won't need 12 Gb in future .Your computer will be outdated by that time.
6 gb is more than enough.

But don't buy that intel board cuz they are Poor quality and they don't overclock.

^ The Intel's board isn't poor quality and they do overclock with the latest update.
In fact it got fairly good reviews.


The main issue with it is it doesn't have 6 RAM slots and doesn't have the older generation peripherals. (no PS2, IDEs, etc)


But the reason I might get it is I can get it $40 cheaper than the Asus P6T, and I have a Scythe Mugen II cooler, which will block 1-2 RAM slots on the P6T. Since the DX58SO's RAM-slot placement is in a different location, I was thinking my cooler wouldn't block it.

If you are gaming, or primarily using just one program at a time, then 6gb is plenty. There are very few applications written to take advantage of more than 2/3gb of ram. Photoshop CS4 is one, I think. Even if you are doing a modest level of multitasking, then 6gb seems to be enough.

You could get a 8gb kit for the intel if you wanted, and run in dual channel mode. Performance would not suffer.

keep the Intel board it is a very good board

I see. Thanks, I'll go with 6GB then

Yah go with the ASUS board, but keep the 6GB. Remember, after you fill in the 3 Triple-Channel slots and start filling in the other 3 slots, you start losing performance. This is a result of two sticks using the same channel at once. so 6gb, 3x 2GB sticks will be great. You do not need more than 6GB of ram unless you are running a server (has to be 64bit), or if you are running massive programs like 3D rendering that require lots of memory at once. But, the best motherboard on the market currently is ASUS' X58 Rampage II.

When there are 4GB sticks of RAM you'll be able to use 12GB anyway. Sure it's not the 24GB that some people will be using but I doubt you'll be using an i7 system by the time you need 24GB