Ddr3 ram - is it ok to have four ram slots?

[mrunner4home]

i'm getting a motherboard that takes ddr3 1600 ram. but it has four ram slots.

- someone tells me that for ddr3 there should be slots equal to a multiple of 3 (like there should be three slots or six slots. ... since i have four slots it would mean that i would have one set of three, but with an extra slot that doesn't have two more to go with)

- for example, ddr2 should have two slots, or four. and ddr3 should have three slots, or six. or at least that's how i understand it



-- ...is this true? does the fact that it's ddr3 mean that having four ram slots is stupid?

i mean ddr3 is the only ram that this motherboard takes so it would be kinda weird if it doesn't even work with it... but?


.............(the motherboard is an ASRock. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176 )

 

[ekoostik]

DDR3 does not dictate that a motherboard will have a specific number of slots.

The socket 1366 / Bloomfield / X58 motherboards are triple channel - which means they are intended to work best when you put in 3 or 6 sticks of RAM. And they use DDR3 memory. You can buy DDR3 RAM in sets of 3.

But other motherboards that also use DDR3 typically have 4, or maybe 2, slots for RAM. For these boards, you would buy DDR3 RAM in sets of 2.

 

[JDFan]

AMD uses only dual channel memory controllers so you need to keep them in pairs ! - the DDR rating has nothing to do with it - THe newer Intel i7s use triple channel memory controllers so work best in multiples of 3 (though they will run in dual channel if you use 2 or 4 )

 

[mrunner4home]

Best answer selected by mrunner4home.