Need To Get To 16GB

BillHicksRIP

BillHicksRIP

BillHicksRIP

Associate
Joined
28 Jun 2005
Posts
1,356
I've had the kit below running VMs in an ESXi server for a while but I'm hitting a wall with the total amount on physical RAM installed. I need to get to 16GB but am trying to minimise the spend on replacement kit. I've looked everywhere for PC2-8500 4GB modules but can't find any. Am I resigned to changing the mobo and potentially the CPU as well to get to 16GB?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.83GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - OEM
Asus P5Q Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
OCZ Platinum Series 4GB (4x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (OCZ2P10664GK)

Thanks!
 
Concidering your memory requirements and the price of DDR3 memory - I think I would make sense to jump over to a DDR3 platform.

You could buy a DDR3 775 board - but these haven't been made in quite some time - so finding one with full warranty will be tough. If you do go down this road - then a DDR3 X48 board would be a good option.

Otherwise, sell the CPU (very good prices for Q9550 chips, second hand), motherboard and DDR2 and pick up either a decent AM3 board, Phenom II X4 (or X6) and two sets of this kit.

A Sandy bridge setup would give you more CPU power - but cost a bit more.

Another option is to pick up a X58 board (either retail or one of the many second-hand) - which has 6 RAM slots, an i7 920/930/950 CPU and two sets of this kit (for a total of 24GB).
 
Like cmndr_andi said, I'd be tempted to upgrade to X58/i7, as the triple channel RAM will allow you to go all the way to 24GB on (relatively) cheap 4GB sticks of DDR3. With the release of Sandy Bridge, I should imagine there's a lot of people upgrading because they "must have the latest thing", so you're fairly likely to get a decent discount on your setup. I'm guessing you're in a position where extra RAM would be advantageous; however, if 16GB is the cap of usefulness, a dual channel system (Sandy Bridge or AM3 X6) would probably suit you better.

The sale of your current system should, I believe, net you a fairly big amount of money, making the upgrade a bit less painful.
 
I was all set on 24GB of Geil DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Triple Channel (GVP312GB1600C9TC) and an Asus P6X58D-E mobo but now I find that in order to run the full 24GB, the DDR speed is limited to DDR3-800/1066 as per the below link. Is it possible to underclock the Geil memory to 1066 or is that madness? I'll try the dedicated Memory forum if need be. Thanks.


http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?i...499,48500,37147,41447,37148,37150,37151,47933,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom