X58 DDR3, to kit or not to kit?

[Wes_M]

I did read/glance over the MEMORY FAQs section- read before posting.

I am thinking I want to upgrade my home desktop PC; SSD and RAM. Found bad news on the SSD, and basically no news on the RAM. I play Battlefield Bad Company 2, hope to be playing BF3 in late October. Would also like to make it a sweet and stable platform for Studio Max if friend of a friend can work out. Also, friend works for MS and can get Win7-64 Ultimate at discount if needed....

Proud and sorry at the same time, but mother board is Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 (rev. 1). 1366 Form factor has an i7 940 (2.93 GHz) running at 4GHz in it (CPU liquid cooled- CPU only). Not even 1 burp, let alone a hiccup. Will not boot at all at 4.05GHz (don't remember but 4 is max). Which "maths out" to the 1600MHz of 6 GB RAM in it; makes me suspect could clock higher if I had faster memory- but cost vs. performance, think I'll just "SIT" at 4 GHz.

Mobo RAM limit is 24GB, triple channel, 6 slots total. Currently, there are 3 sticks at 2GB each. OS is Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium with a RAM limit of 16GB (hence the gratitude of the MS friend; Ultimate unlocks RAM limits to 192GB... 192 OS vs 16GB OS vs 24GB mobo... whata-frickin-mismatch-miscommunication).

The question: MUST I ONLY PUT A MATCHED RAM MEMORY KIT IN? Or can I simply (and cheaply) just get more of the same manufacturer's part number and utilize the other 3 slots, i.e., buy a 3 stick matched kit. Or must I buy a 6 stick kit that is all matched? I read somewhere that even if the manufacturer's PN is the same, there maybe issues; memory kits sold as kits are kits for a reason, tested tried and true. PLEASE COMMENT.

And as far as the SSD and this mobo and SATA3 and Marvel and TRIM and how one aught not defrag an SSD etc... maybe keep your comments brief or better yet- post a link to a thread dedicated to that topic.

Sorry for the length, but words are free, like birds- they flutter though the air. And like my Dad always told me, "Say what you mean, and mean what you say."

 

[geofelt]

1) Motherboards are becoming less sensitive to mismatched ram. Odds are, that you will be successful.

2) How much ram do you need/want?
For 12gb, you could try an extra 3 x 2gb kit.
For 18gb you could add a 3 x 4gb kit. Home premium should see 16gb of it.
24gb is the max today, I have yet to see 8gb sticks, but they are coming, and will be expensive.

I think I would get a 12gb kit of 3 x 4gb. By itself, you will have doubled your ram.
Then add in your 3 x 2gb kit and see how you do. If it works, fine. If not, sell it and decide if you really want 24gb.

3) The current Intel nehalem and sandy bridge cpu's have an excellent integrated ram controller.
It is able to keep the cpu fed with data from any speed ram.
The difference in real application performance or FPS between the fastest and slowest ram is on the order of 1-3%.
Synthetic benchmark differences will be impressive, but are largely irrelevant in the real world.
Fancy heat spreaders are mostly marketing too.
Only if you are seeking record level overclocks should you consider faster ram or better latencies.

4) Extra sticks may well affect your overclock. It may take extra voltage to get the rem to run properly.

5) You want documented ram compatibility. If you should ever have a problem, you want supported ram.
Otherwise, you risk a finger pointing battle between the ram and motherboard support sites, claiming "not my problem".

One place to check is your motherboards web site.
Look for the ram QVL list. It lists all of the ram kits that have been tested with that particular motherboard.
Sometimes the QVL list is not updates after the motherboard is released.
For more current info, go to a ram vendor's web site and access their ram selection configurator.
Enter your motherboard, and you will get a list of compatible ram kits.
While today's motherboards are more tolerant of different ram, it makes sense to buy ram that is known to work and is supported.