12GB DDR3 Triple vs. 16GB DDR3 Dual???

[troland]

Hello Guys and Gals,
I had a buddy of mine give me a g.skills 16gb(1600)quad kit. My motherboard recognizes it as dual channel. I guess my question would be..would i have any benefit from running 12GB in triple or just keep 16GB in dual. Will I seen any real difference in performance, I run several 3d modeling programs, as well as Autocad, plus I like to kick back and game a bit. Any input or recommendations would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

 

[al360ex]

Hello,

If you've got a DDR3 triple channel motherboard/cpu, then you'll see a difference. However, you must use either 3 or 6 slots for the best performance. As for overclocking, it's usually easier with only 3 RAM slots occupied.
But that doesn't mean you can't use DDR3 dual channel memory on a triple channel board. It will work, but your performances will be somewhat less impressive.
I'd really go with triple channel.

On a side note, when you speak of Dual Channel memory, you don't mean DDR2, right ? Because you can't put DDR2 memory inside a DDR3 board. It simply won't physically fit.

Good luck,
al360ex

 

[troland]

Thank you for the reply Al360ex. It is DDR3 and my motherboard is gigabyte x58A-UD3R/re.2.0. So instead of putting in (4x4GB..which is read as dual since my board doesn't read quad), it would more beneficial to put in 3x4GB in triple channel mode?

Thanks again
Troland

 

[al360ex]

Thank you for the reply Al360ex. It is DDR3 and my motherboard is gigabyte x58A-UD3R/re.2.0. So instead of putting in (4x4GB..which is read as dual since my board doesn't read quad), it would more beneficial to put in 3x4GB in triple channel mode?

Thanks again
Troland

Yes, exactly.

 

[beakert]

I would like to add on to this question. I'm getting a X58 mobo. I have 4 x 4GB RAM (dual channel).

Since its a triple channel board, I can only use 3 out of the 4?
Can it run in triple channel since they are dual channel (Corsair Vengeance)?
If I run 4 sticks will it default to dual channel?


cpu i7 920 LGA1366

mobo: Rampage 2 or a Gigabyte Sniper G-1

Thanks,