Question about upgrading RAM

[Archigos86]

Mobo - http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3450#sp

NEW Ram - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145324 x2

OLD Ram - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226028



My issue is that since I'm using a 6 channel board would going to dual channel mode of 4x4gig be better than my 3x2gig.


I know that 16 > 6 but wasn't sure if there were any significant downsides to going into dual channel vs tri channel.

And I'm also guessing that the Cas latency is insignificant when comparing 10 gigs of additional Ram.

Any support/help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[o1die]

Your board is designed to use ram in threes, not twos. The speed difference isn't significant, but consult your manual and decide if you want to go ahead and use it. Some x58 boards will run the ram in pairs just fine if you use the correct dimm slots. This is where your manual will give you better advice than I can. Newegg has corsair ram on sale now at 10 percent off with promo code. also you have to be aware that switching from 6 to 8 gb won't improve your speed by much. Your old mushkin ram is actually a tad faster than the new corsair, and I wouldn't try running it mixed with your old ram, leaving one slot open. You can also call or use newegg's online support and see if they will exchange it without a restocking fee. I would get this kit instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233189 and sell your old mushkin on craigslist or anandtech's for sale forum.

 

[Archigos86]

I was planning to get 2 of the corsair sets thats why I put the 4x4 and said going from 6 to 16 gigs. Sorry if that was confusing.

But 16gigs for $66 and some change. It seemed like a deal not to pass up. Once again assuming that this will work on the board.

The specs said "Dual/3 channel memory architecture" but I just don't know the technical aspect of dual vs 3 channel speeds if they even exist.

 

[h3sham]

latency is not noticable with normal work
also i recommend these instead

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

as for dual vs triple channel . The only big difference between triple and dual channel is the bandwidth possibilities, but those arent even really seen until you get into synthetic benchmarks. Having more memory will be more beneficial than the speed of the memory, until you get to the point where x-> memory beyond "X" isnt being used in anything you do.

 

[Archigos86]

latency is not noticable with normal work
also i recommend these instead

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

as for dual vs triple channel . The only big difference between triple and dual channel is the bandwidth possibilities, but those arent even really seen until you get into synthetic benchmarks. Having more memory will be more beneficial than the speed of the memory, until you get to the point where x-> memory beyond "X" isnt being used in anything you do.

Thanks for the reply. What makes you recommend the G.Skill over the Corsair. I only ask because the price is similar but Corsair also comes with a 20.00 MIR right now + 10% off. So the difference of 66 to 93 for 8 gigs of ram with the same speeds/timings as far as I can tell.

 

[h3sham]

cuz of the lower voltage

 

[Archigos86]

cuz of the lower voltage

Good to know. I really didn't know how voltage effected RAM other than for OC'ing purposes which I'm inclined not to really mess around with.

I'll take the G.Skill into consideration.

 

[h3sham]

most memory designed for the Core i7 will likely behave differently when used in a higher voltage application. Most of these chips are used specifically for core i7 builds because they respond better to a low voltage, and may act strange at higher voltages. The inverse is also true, non JEDEC stuff intended for things other than Core i7 may behave differently/not work on Core i7

 

[Archigos86]

most memory designed for the Core i7 will likely behave differently when used in a higher voltage application. Most of these chips are used specifically for core i7 builds because they respond better to a low voltage, and may act strange at higher voltages. The inverse is also true, non JEDEC stuff intended for things other than Core i7 may behave differently/not work on Core i7

Now you are starting to lose me, but I guess this just means I have some googling to do. I've never heard of JEDEC.

I appreciate all the valuable information and input.

 

[Archigos86]

Best answer selected by Archigos86.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr