Can I run a X79 board on one DIMM, temporarily?

[bit_user]

For reasons I won't go into, I'd like to run my X79 quad-channel board on a single channel, for a short time. Obviously, performance will suffer, but I just want to know if it will work at all.

Thanks!

 

[nukemaster]

I see no reason not to.

X58's triple channel works fine with 1 stick.

Check the manual since sometimes you need to use a certain slot with a single stick(x58 was that way and did not even post with a single or 2 sticks in the wrong spot).

 

[bit_user]

No, the motherboard user's manual shows a minimum configuration of 2 DIMMs.

 

[nukemaster]

what board is it?

EDIT, just grabbed a gigabyte manual. And you are right it only shows 2 sticks. Not going to be great for trouble shooting. If it works, best bet would be with the single stick in the lowest numbered slot(not always closest to the cpu)

I do NOT have an x79 board to test with for you unfortunately.

EDIT EDIT.

Asus shows 1 stick in the lowest slot number(of the last channel even) as being usable. Not sure who to trust now.

For each DRAM channel (A,B,C,D), make sure to install the DRAM module to blue
slot(P9X79 series) / beige slot(TUF series) / red slot(ROG series) first.
• 1 DIMM: Supports one (1) module inserted into any blue slot(P9X79 series) /
beige slot(TUF series) / red slot(ROG series) as Single-channel memory
configuration. Install the module into the D1 slot for better compatibility.
• 2 DIMMs: Supports two (2) modules inserted into one pair of blue slots(P9X79 series) /
beige slots(TUF series) / red slots(ROG series) as one pair of Dual-channel
memory configuration. Install the modules into slots B1 and D1 for better
compatibility.
• 4 DIMMs: Supports four (4) modules inserted into four blue slots(P9X79 series) / beige
slots(TUF series) / red slots(ROG series) as two pairs of Quad-channel
memory configuration. Install the modules into slots A1/B1/C1/D1 for
better compatibility.
• 6 DIMMs: Supports six (6) modules inserted into four blue slots(P9X79 series) / beige
slots(TUF series) / red slots(ROG series) and one pair of black slots(P9X79
series; ROG series) / brown slots(TUF series) as three pairs of Quadchannel
memory configurations. Install the modules into slots A1/B1/B2/
C1/D1/D2 for better compatibility.
• 8 DIMMs: Supports eight (8) modules inserted into

From ASUS X79 8-DIMM DRAM installation guide user’s insertpage (English)

This is the same location for both boards from what I see.

 

[georgekn3mp]

One stick per channel worked for me on P9X79 Pro for troubleshooting...I had a bad D1 RAM slot on the first (blue)channel so I returned it.
Now it's quad channel but single-channel worked.

 

[bit_user]

Thanks, guys!

Credit goes to georgekn3mp for first-hand experience. Though I really appreciate your efforts, master nuke.

 

[bit_user]

Best answer selected by bit_user.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr