Dual channel help

scubasteve526

Distinguished
Aug 5, 2011
141
0
18,680
Hello I have my G skill 8GB DDR3 ram installed in Dimm slot 1 and 3 on my motherboard(MSI GD55 Z68(G3) ) I'm about to install an after market cpu heatsink but it doesn't clear my RAM stick in slot one. My question is, if I move the sticks to slot 2 and 4 will they still be running in dual channel? Will the PC even boot correctly? B/c the manual says to have the stick installed in dimm slot 1 for a sure fire boot. Slots 1 and 3 are blue and slots 2 and 4 are black. Not sure if the color indicates dual channel mode or not. any help please!
 

rmiiirusty

Distinguished
Nov 25, 2011
474
0
18,810
More than an answer I have a question,

I have just purchased the same mobo and will hopefully be using a Tuniq a\m cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154011

my question is...Is it because of the tall heatsinks that your cooler wont let you use slot 1?

Do you think this ram would have fit better

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148544

I have no desire to have to use only slot 2 and4 as I hope to leave slots available for future addition of more dimms.
 

scubasteve526

Distinguished
Aug 5, 2011
141
0
18,680
Well I moved my ram to slots 2 and 4 because my heatsink covered slot one. The heatsink fan was hitting the top of the first ram card b/c of the taller heatsink on the RAM stick. I could have put the fan on the other side to avoid it covering the ram slot but the fan blows air into the heat fins so it would have blown the heat right into my case instead of blowing it right into my rear exhaust fan exiting my case(this was the better airflow option so I moved my ram for that reason alone) Moving it to slot 2 and 4 worked fine and my RAM is still in dual channel. That ram you linked has a smaller heatsink then my G skill ripjaws so it might be better but That heatsink for your cpu you linked is huge. Since we have the same mobo(well you will soon) I'll tell you this. The ram slots are close to the cpu socket so it's going to be a tight fit. You are also going to want a large case for that. I'm using the NZXT phantom. Oh and don't do what I did. I bought the cpu heatsink after I put my pc together so I didn't want to remove the mobo in my case and I installed the heatsink while everything was in the case. It was a pain in the ass! I should have not been lazy and just removed my mobo lol.
 

rmiiirusty

Distinguished
Nov 25, 2011
474
0
18,810


Thanx for the reply, I have recieved the mobo, adeal from tiger direct $169 w\$30 m\i rebate

I purchased my i5 2500k from vender who sent 2500 non-k had to send back for correct

I am getting this case and planning blue and black theme for all
http://www.xoxide.com/aerocool-sycloniiblackedition-fulltowercase.html

I have that ram in another pc and am very satisfied so I picked up this deal on this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148544

The fan comes free and is a $19 value. Don't know that I will use it but I can sell it on ebay.

I also just noticed that newegg is offering the b3 version of this board for a killer deal as of today
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130596&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL020712&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL020712-_-EMC-020712-Index-_-IntelMotherboards-_-13130596-L012A
Just noticed it is the micro atx but only $109 after rebate...Still a good deal

 

scubasteve526

Distinguished
Aug 5, 2011
141
0
18,680

Well that's a nice mobo but it is a micro-ATX sized mobo so your hardware might run a little tight in there. I have no clue what the b3 stands for but the board I got(which you said you also got) is great. It has the z68 chipset which is great it also has support for Intel's new CPUs, code named Ivy bridge(not out until april), which will allow you to use the PCI-e 3.0 slots on the mobo(assuming you have a pcie 3.0 video card like the 7970, though there truly is no performance gain) The pcie slots run at 2.0 if no 3.0 support is available. Pcie is backwards compatible. Also your case is a mid-size so keep that in mind when picking parts, especially your heatsink as it is very large for a mid size case. I did watch a video on that case and the guy had a hyper 212 heatsink, same one I have and it fit fine. sorry about that mess up with your cpu. I would be pissed if they sent me the wrong one. I just bought my i5 2500k last week with the mobo and case and finally assembled the whole PC a few days ago. As soon as i was ready to buy Newegg ran out of i5 2500ks so I had to buy one off Amazon so it came one day later, no biggie though. Oh and I love xoxide! Their warehouse is only and hour and a half away from my home(in Florida) so when I order from them I always get the free slow shipping b/c it will always arrive the next day hehe. The one button overclock on the mobo put my i5 at 4.2ghz(which isn't bad at all. Thats still very fast) but I wanted more speed so I manually overclocked to 4.5ghz with all the voltages on auto. even with ivy bridge coming out those chips are supposed to be only 20% better, so they say. In my opinion the i5 will still be kicking ass. I have a GTX560ti 448 cores graphics card and before my i5 I still couldn't max a lot of settings and get 60fps. Now that I'm off my crappy athlon II x4 and put in my i5 I can max so many settings and get 60fps. I run BF3 mid-ultra settings and get 60fps and the lowest i got was 50fps which is amazing for me :D Overclocking the 2500k isn't hard if you need some help don't be afraid to ask or hit up youtube. found a video for our exact bored for how to get it to 4.5ghz.
 



Another option that you could have done is to take the fan off the heatsink and turn it around so it pulls the air through the heatsink and that way you could have the fan on the other side blowing air out towards the rear and all of your ran slots would be open with no blockage from the heatsink. It makes no difference to the heatsink if the air is being blown through it or pulled through it.
 

rmiiirusty

Distinguished
Nov 25, 2011
474
0
18,810


Yeah my board is g3 as well. I think the b3 is the same minus 3.0 as far as I can tell.
I have only 550ti right now in my recently built pc which I have listed on ebay for sale
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220947250375?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I have asus maximus iv gene-z mobo with 2500k and have overclocked to 4.4 as you can see in the pictures.
I get pretty good frame rates with the 550ti on bf3 but is prob. because my monitor is 22" widescreen for 1600x900 res. and have gpu o.c.'d to the max
I am looking for 560ti for the new build but will have to settle for used or cheaper brand like evga. evga is good even tho cheaper.
I am looking at msi 560ti frozerIII hawk and have seen it on ebay go for as low as $169
Would like it better to go with msi mainboard and blue theme looks better with silver than the black and yellow of evga.
I don't think I will keep either computer if I can get them sold,just because I have a hobby of building and the only way I can keep it up is to sell them and start over LoL
Trying to sell is the reason I want to match things up.
Since I chose the asus board for the last build is why I chose red for the theme.

The coolermaster v8 cooler is a monster as well and barely clears with like a 1/2 in or so clearance from side panel in my coolermaster storm scout case.

If my research falls true My tuniq cooler will barely fit in case I picked with similar clearance
 

scubasteve526

Distinguished
Aug 5, 2011
141
0
18,680

Ironic that you typed that b/c as I was typing the message I said to myself"oh wow! idiot" I could have just turned the fan around :D haha. But yea I think I will just leave it the way it is now b/c the RAM works fine in slot 2 and 4 and it's in dual channel so unless those slots cause problems I have no need to switch the fan.