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I7-860: Amount of memory?

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I am currently looking at purchasing a Core i7-860 and the ASUS P7P55D EVO. When looking at the memory such as DDR3 1600, I understand that the memory controller is only dual-channel, meaning it can only support accessing two DIMMs at a time. I would like to put as much memory in here as I can, so I was looking at doing 3 x 2GB. Does this make sense, or will there be no practical improvement to performance?

On another note: I have had horrid luck with using all 4 DIMMs on my current Mobo. Have people had any luck using all 4 DIMMs on the ASUS, such as 4 x 2GB?

Thanks!

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Memory Master

Quote:
I understand that the memory controller is only dual-channel, meaning it can only support accessing two DIMMs at a time.
I have no clue where you got that info, but it's wrong.
Quote:
I would like to put as much memory in here as I can, so I was looking at doing 3 x 2GB. Does this make sense, or will there be no practical improvement to performance?
2 modules will operate in dual channel mode and one in single channel mode. It makes more sense to use 2 or 4 modules so that they all operate in dual channel mode. I use 4 modules on several systems and I have no problems, but I stay away from overclocked memory modules.

After reading more, I now understand the issue is the memory controller when the 4 DIMMs don't work. Does anyone have experience running 4 DIMMs with the i7-860? I'll start a new thread for this, as this is a bit off topic.
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I don't have your motherboard, but another a Gigabyte Micro ATX motherboard.

I have a i7 860 with 4 sticks of ram (CORSAIR XMS3 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600. Model: CMX4GX3M2A1600C8). Motherboard is GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2. All 4 of my dims works fine with 8 gig of memory at DDR3 1600, CAS at 8-8-8-24 and the memory voltage are set under 1.65 voltage. Running on Windows 7 64 bits with Antec 750 Earthwatt and very fast.
This may be an issue with the memory on your motherboard. You can try another brand and see or go to Asus site and find out what's new on their QVL list.

Do not go over 1.65 voltage, since the memory controller are built onto the cpu and this will damage your cpu.

You will have an overhead if the motherboard is having problem reaching 1600 with voltage and you can drop down to 1333. If another motherboard works with this, then you can use 1600. It all depends on the motherboard and memory and BIOS. Some may work differently. Your CPU processor should work with 1600 (if it's the i7 860). Sorry I don't have that board.

adam35413 said:
The issue I am referring to is with my current motherboard (p5n-e). At this point I am leaning towards DDR3 1333 GSKILL 4 x 2GB. Since the processor is specced for 1333, is there an advantage to using 1600?

adam35413 said:
I am currently looking at purchasing a Core i7-860 and the ASUS P7P55D EVO. When looking at the memory such as DDR3 1600, I understand that the memory controller is only dual-channel, meaning it can only support accessing two DIMMs at a time. I would like to put as much memory in here as I can, so I was looking at doing 3 x 2GB. Does this make sense, or will there be no practical improvement to performance?

On another note: I have had horrid luck with using all 4 DIMMs on my current Mobo. Have people had any luck using all 4 DIMMs on the ASUS, such as 4 x 2GB?

Thanks!


I have had some issues initially with my mobo and 8gigs. It is more about the amount of RAM than the number of sticks it seems. I was running 8 gigs very early on and it seemed like even though it was within the max amount supported it was not very stable. It seemed to improved after a few bios updates.

I agree that you should either run 2 or 4 sticks of ram. The 860 is dual channel and will run better in pairs. If you were running the 900 series then you could run 3gig or 6gigs and get the best peformance.

Been having similar issues running at 1600.

Current setup
i7-860
Corsair XMS3 currently only using 4g
EVGA P55ftw (latest bios)
zotac GTX275
Vertes 120g SSD
Vertex 60g SSD

I've tried OCZ platinum and Corsair ram. Couldn't get either to work at 1600 with 1
pair or 2 pairs of ram. System hangs if I try XMP profile even at 1333. Staring to supsect the
CPU. Tried every setting suggested by both companies. Was thinking maybe the MB, but
since the memory controller is on the CPU, could it cause these problems?
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