Intel i7 Ivybridge and Quad Channel DDR3 motherboard

Ricochet J · 16 Sep 2012 at 16:09

Hello,

I'm finding it hard to find an i7 Ivybridge compatible motherboard with quad channel DDR3. It is not a problem finding an i7 Sandybridge compatible motherboard with quad channel DDR3.

Is there a reason for this? I was under the impression Ivybridge is newer tech compared to Sandybridge, so thought I'd find a plethora of quad channel DDR3 motherboards.

Ideally I want 8 RAM slots. I will use 4 with 4 x 8GB RAM. And I will use the other 4 for future expansion.

Thanks

Surveyor · 16 Sep 2012 at 16:33

Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge don't support quad channel.

The memory controller on the processors is dual channel.

Some motherboards have 4 RAM slots but filling them all gives you 2 pairs in dual channel mode.

You need a Sandybridge-E processor for quad channel support.

Sandybridge-E processors use different motherboards than Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge.

LGA2011 motherboards

Ricochet J · 16 Sep 2012 at 16:48

Thank you for clearing that up.

Surveyor · 16 Sep 2012 at 17:13

You're welcome.

If you're heading down the route of having so much RAM then make sure you have an appropriate version of Windows.

You need 64 bit Windows but the 64 bit Home Premium edition of Windows 7 only supports up to 16GB of RAM.

64 bit Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate support up to 192GB.

I don't know if there are any similar limitations on the forthcoming Windows 8.

Ricochet J · 16 Sep 2012 at 18:38

Aye I knew about the Windows limitations. I'm coming back into PC building after a dormant 7 or so years. The last computer I built was an AMD Athlon 64, with a DFI nForce 4 mobo! :eek:

It just seems hardware wise everything has become so complicated.

Surveyor · 16 Sep 2012 at 21:05

If you're unsure what to get then you could start a "spec. me" thread in General Hardware.

Say what you what to spend and what you want to use the PC for.

Say what you need, e.g. just a base unit or do you need an operating system, keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor etc.

Give any specific requirements such as you want an SSD/HDD of a certain size, you want a certain amount of RAM and you want room to increase it etc.

l3g10n · 17 Sep 2012 at 08:56

there will always be a 4GB limit on 32-bit platforms - 4GB is the highest addressable memory value for a 32-bit register.

doesn't mean there won't be hardware that can't make use of more though and just let you access it in different ways (e.g. ram disks).

there is also the PAE extension that can make more available in windows but individual processes still have the 4GB limitation.

bemaniac · 17 Sep 2012 at 10:23

Ricochet J said:
Aye I knew about the Windows limitations. I'm coming back into PC building after a dormant 7 or so years. The last computer I built was an AMD Athlon 64, with a DFI nForce 4 mobo!

It just seems hardware wise everything has become so complicated.

Yeah Dfi Lanparty! I had one of those nforce4 boards was epic with a 7950gx2 zooming thru the first year of world of warcraft lol