Dual Channel RAM in X79 Mobo -- Possible or not?

Aderes Devorah · 12 Mar 2013 at 01:06

Hi all

If I go for a X79 motherboard (and Intel CPU) will it take my Dual Channel RAM whilst I save up for some Quad RAM?

Thank you!

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bremen1874 · 12 Mar 2013 at 01:47

Quad channel and dual channel RAM doesn't really exist, it's just marketing shorthand for the number of sticks in a kit.

Assuming the memory is basically compatible you'll be fine with just two sticks installed. Consult the motherboard manual for the recommended slots to use.

Aderes Devorah · 12 Mar 2013 at 02:03

bremen1874 said:
Quad channel and dual channel RAM doesn't really exist, it's just marketing shorthand for the number of sticks in a kit.

Assuming the memory is basically compatible you'll be fine with just two sticks installed. Consult the motherboard manual for the recommended slots to use.

Thanks for that. Getting caught up in marketing speak almost made me spend a lot of money unnecessarily.

You saved me my friend...

bremen1874 · 12 Mar 2013 at 02:10

Aderes Devorah said:
Thanks for that. Getting caught up in marketing speak almost made me spend a lot of money unnecessarily.

You saved me my friend...

You're welcome.

Motherboards are single/double/triple/quad channel.

Memory is just memory. Buying a quad channel kit will guarantee that all four sticks exactly match, but that's about it.

killswitch73 · 12 Mar 2013 at 05:10

bremen1874 said:
You're welcome.

Motherboards are single/double/triple/quad channel.

Memory is just memory. Buying a quad channel kit will guarantee that all four sticks exactly match, but that's about it.

+ 1

like here says ^^^^

Catanonia · 12 Mar 2013 at 08:47

I have used 4 dual channel corsiar kits to give me 32GB in my X79 board no problems.
Mine overclock from 1600 to 1959 ok and seem fairly matched.

wolvers · 13 Mar 2013 at 13:04

Some reviews have proved that the real life memory latency on X79 is actually better (and more like Z77) when running in dual channel so I'm considering swapping 4x4gb for 2x8gb.

marc2003 · 13 Mar 2013 at 13:19

wolvers said:
Some reviews have proved that the real life memory latency on X79 is actually better (and more like Z77) when running in dual channel so I'm considering swapping 4x4gb for 2x8gb.

outside of synthetic benchmarks, i don't think you're likely to see any difference in the real world.

wolvers · 13 Mar 2013 at 13:22

Well that's often the case with RAM, it doesn't stop us from trying for the better option that the benches prove!

johnerz · 17 Mar 2013 at 00:05

wolvers said:
Well that's often the case with RAM, it doesn't stop us from trying for the better option that the benches prove!

Thats very true we spend money time and effort for the best/fastest we can afford for a return that out of benching is miniscule