Quad channel memory in a triple channel setup

[EdwardTeach]

I have a x5670 in a gigabyte ud3r, which can handle triple channel or double channel memory, but obviously not quad channel.
I currently have 6*2gb, and I am looking to increase this.

Triple channel memory doesn't seem to be widely available any more. I have been looking at some quad channel memory on the mm. Am I right in thinking that could drop 3/4 sticks into my motherboard and it will work fine in a triple channel setup?

What would happen if I used all 4 sticks, would it be 3 sticks in triple channel and one in single. If so would the 4th stick make overall performance slower or would the cpu know to use the 12gb of triple channel first? I have read that all 4 sticks would be read as triple channel but that didn't make sense to me.

 

[Armageus]

Am I right in thinking that could drop 3/4 sticks into my motherboard and it will work fine in a triple channel setup?

Yep that will work fine - all a quad channel kit consists of 4 sticks of RAM from the same batch to minimize compatibility/timing issues - using 3 of the 4 will be fine.

What would happen if I used all 4 sticks, would it be 3 sticks in triple channel and one in single. If so would the 4th stick make overall performance slower or would the cpu know to use the 12gb of triple channel first? I have read that all 4 sticks would be read as triple channel but that didn't make sense to me.

Not sure - some boards do have a hybrid mode e.g. 3 in triple and then 1 in single, although there is also the possibility it could run 2 sticks per channel, in dual channel mode. Will have google in minute and see if I can find out more.

Regardless of Single/Dual/Triple Channel, the only thing it really affects is synthetic memory benchmarks - the real world performance hit (e.g. in games) is something like 5%, so barely noticable.

 

[Armageus]

http://download.gigabyte.ru/manual/mb_manual_ga-x58a-ud3r_e.pdf

Page 16:


"When enabling 3 Channel mode with three, four or six modules, it is recommended that memory of the same capacity, brand, speed, and chips be used. When enabling 3 Channel mode with three memory modules, be sure to install them in the DDR3_1, DDR3_3 and DDR3_5 sockets. When enabling 3 Channel mode with four memory modules, be sure to install them in the DDR3_1, DDR3_2, DDR3_3 and DDR3_5 sockets."

so yes 4 Sticks will work in Triple channel as long as you use the correct slots (1,2,3,5), and it uses Intel "flex-memory" technology aka the hybrid mode I mentioned earlier.

"Intel Flex Memory Technology offers greater flexibility to upgrade by allowing different memory sizes to be populated and remain in Dual/3 Channel mode/performance"

 

[Sumanji]

Obviously more expensive, but could you get 3 x dual channel kits to double your RAM?

24GB is a healthy amount