Mobo says dual channel but there are 4 ram slots

[Noitidart]

Hi all,
I got the ASRock motherboard Extreme6+ FM2A88X:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157457&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=


My question was: it has 4 slots for RAM, but it says on newegg that it supports only dual channel. So does that mean it would be better for me to spread Xgb of ram over 2 sticks or 4 sticks?

Thanks

 

[prit87]

your motherboard supports 64 gb of ram and u have 4 ram slots that means 16 gb in each is supported .........and dual channel means 2 or more ram slots ......

 

[Noitidart]

Well I was reading some topics about quad channel vs dual channel. Does that mean my mother board is really quad channel but mis labled on newegg? So for quad channel i should get a set of 4 right? i cant take like 2 gskil sticks and 2 mushkin stick?

 

[Lee-m]

Dual channel is the norm. It just means your ram works in groups of two. So you can have 4 sticks in total. That is why ram is sold in kits of 2 or 4.
Also it is not always a good idea to mix brands of ram on one board.

 

[prit87]

support dual channel ram meaning if you look at your ram slots and number them 1 2 3 4 you will run first ram pair at slot 1 and 3 and the second pair in slots 2 and 4 with dual channel you will run two ram sticks per memory channel to get full cpu performance while in quad you will run four ram sticks per channel to receive the full performance if that makes sense

 

[Noitidart]

support dual channel ram meaning if you look at your ram slots and number them 1 2 3 4 you will run first ram pair at slot 1 and 3 and the second pair in slots 2 and 4 with dual channel you will run two ram sticks per memory channel to get full cpu performance while in quad you will run four ram sticks per channel to receive the full performance if that makes sense

Ah I think that makes sense. So it is better to buy 4 sticks of 4gb ram (for total of 16) and put them in 1 through 4 rather than 2 sticks of 8 gb ram and put them in 1 and 3?

 

[prit87]

4 sticks of 4 gb ram would be good and if u use 2 sticks of 8 gb then place the sticks on 1st and 3rd slot..

 

[Noitidart]

4 sticks of 4 gb ram would be good and if u use 2 sticks of 8 gb then place the sticks on 1st and 3rd slot..

Thx man. I just was wondering which combination u mentioned there would be better? Is the only benefit of the 2x8gb that it allows for adding more in future?

Thx man

 

[norsestar]

In addition to leaving 2 slots free for adding more later, 2x8GB is better than 4x4GB because putting 2 sticks on each channel increases the electrical load. On many motherboards, adding a second pair slows the DRAM clock by one step (like if you have DDR3-1866, adding the second pair will slow it down to DDR3-1600). It may or may not work if you try to force it back to the original speed.

 

[Noitidart]

In addition to leaving 2 slots free for adding more later, 2x8GB is better than 4x4GB because putting 2 sticks on each channel increases the electrical load. On many motherboards, adding a second pair slows the DRAM clock by one step (like if you have DDR3-1866, adding the second pair will slow it down to DDR3-1600). It may or may not work if you try to force it back to the original speed.

Superb answer thank you!!

 

[danco5074]

4 sticks of 4 gb ram would be good and if u use 2 sticks of 8 gb then place the sticks on 1st and 3rd slot..

Thx man. I just was wondering which combination u mentioned there would be better? Is the only benefit of the 2x8gb that it allows for adding more in future?

Thx man

Yeah, they should have two colors (most boards). Just put the RAM in so the colors match.