Which CPU for 128GB Memory?

[marcus2704]

I am looking to purchase a motherboard & CPU, and initially 4 x 16GB DDR4.

The motherboard I am looking at supports up to 128GB Ram - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...cket-2011-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-301-ms.html

I have been offered a I7 5820K which I have read supports up to 64GB memory - http://ark.intel.com/products/82932/Intel-Core-i7-5820K-Processor-15M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz

In the longer term I would like to expand my memory to 128GB, does this rule out the 5820K or would it work despite the tech specfication?

I note also the CPU states up to 2133 DDR4, were I to buy (say) 2400 DDR4, I assume it would just operate at the lower speed?

Reason for the requirement for a lot of memory is I will be using my workstation as a VMware-based lab running lots of VMs.

 

[abui1806]

The i7 5820K does in fact support more than 64gb. The deciding factor here is the bios choice.
If you want no risk at all then xeon (1650 v3 is the same as 5930K) will official work with 128gb at any later bios.

 

[Brazo]

My 4790k happily runs ram at 2400 so I suspect the 5820 will do at least as good

 

[jigger]

Officially you're looking at Xeon e5 chips, but some X99 desktop motherboards offer 128GB support. I would look at X99 Work Station/Professional spec boards and pick officially supported 16GB Dimm's.

 

[abui1806]

Officially you're looking at Xeon e5 chips, but some X99 desktop motherboards offer 128GB support. I would look at X99 Work Station/Professional spec boards and pick officially supported 16GB Dimm's.

Asus boards do support 16gb modules, even the most basic board, Asus X99-A, of their x99 line up since bios 1801.
IIRC all asrock X99 boards do support 16gb with latest bios even the extreme4.
Workstation/Server boards support ECC.

 

[jigger]

Asus boards do support 16gb modules, even the most basic board, Asus X99-A, of their x99 line up since bios 1801.
IIRC all asrock X99 boards do support 16gb with latest bios even the extreme4.
Workstation/Server boards support ECC.

Great so All Asus X99 boards support all 16GB Dimm's with all slots fully populated?

 

[Jumper118]

Gskill had loads of boards from Asus, gigabyte and msi running 128gb kits over 3200mhz at computex.

Edit: they were using Broadwell e and 5960x cpus.

 

[marcus2704]

Thanks for replies, most helpful.

I have almost secured a deal for an Asus X99-A motherboard, 5820K CPU and 64GB (4x16GB) of DDR4 2400 RAM.

Based on the above, its likely then, with an updated BIOS that I would be able to add another 64GB further down the line to bring to 128Gb overall?

 

[Fire_fly]

The successor to the 5820K, the 6800K, supports 128GB of memory, might be worth getting one of those.

http://ark.intel.com/products/94189/Intel-Core-i7-6800K-Processor-15M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz

 

[drakioned]

What do you doing that needs 128gb RAM?

Is it important? and if it is, you should really consider ECC RAM and official support.

If it's not important, what unimportant applications need 128gb RAM?

EDIT: Didn't read carefully enough, it's for a VM lab... still, would you really expect to use 128gb RAM for lab purposes before you run out of cores?

 

[BusError]

I use 64GB in my Asus X99 board for quite a while -- I'll have to check if you can find deals on 16GB sticks yet -- last time I looked, they were way too expensive...

Edit: Ohh actually not too bad, around 200 quid for 4x16GB! Might just pull the trigger on that, will check if I'm running on 1801 tho, not sure when last I updated.

 

[marcus2704]

What do you doing that needs 128gb RAM?

Is it important? and if it is, you should really consider ECC RAM and official support.

If it's not important, what unimportant applications need 128gb RAM?

EDIT: Didn't read carefully enough, it's for a VM lab... still, would you really expect to use 128gb RAM for lab purposes before you run out of cores?

At this point this is more of the longer term, the option to increase to 128GB RAM if needed.

For now I agree, 64GB should be more than enough for the VM workloads I intend to put on there. The workstation also doubles as my daily-use PC, and runs dedicated Linux VMs for Plex and Sonarr for media purposes.

For the most part I would say the lab VMs are unimportant, so no need for ECC.

I will be purchasing a entire PC from a friend for £700, I think its a reasonable deal, not sure what you guys think..?

Asus X99-A
64GB DDR4
Intel I7 5820K
Intel 750 NVME SSD 400GB (which will be used for OS and lab VMs)
Kraken 61
GTX 970
Fractal Define S case
PSU (unknown at this moment)

 

[Dark Light]

There is absolutely no need for 64GB let alone 128GB, 32GB is already borderline useless. The only reason why you would need that much is if you wanted it for a specific purpose.

 

[joeyjojo]

There is absolutely no need for 64GB let alone 128GB, 32GB is already borderline useless. The only reason why you would need that much is if you wanted it for a specific purpose.

Who are you to tell the OP what his memory requirements are?

I occasionally use up all 32 G on my workstation. OP is being sensible aiming for 64 while keeping an upgrade route to 128 open, since it's not exactly an exotic configuration.

That said, it's probably not worth worrying too much about OP, if you're not likely to need over 64 for several years, as things will move on.

I will be purchasing a entire PC from a friend for £700, I think its a reasonable deal, not sure what you guys think..?

Seems a fair price to me.