i7-950 ddr3 ram specs, ...Please Help

OEM · 06 Sep 2010

Hi All,

I was just on the Intel site looking at the i7-950 CPU i have already ordered and in its memory specs, it says 800/1066. What does this mean to someone like me who has ordered ddr3-1333 conforming to the MB specs?

I wasn't aware to look at the CPU memory support, does this mean with this CPU, I must use 1066 ddr3 or will 1333 be OK?

From Intel, Specs for memory for i7-950:

Attachment 95866

What does this mean??? Do I need to go with 1066 in order to achieve triple channel?

Thnx in advance,

bobkn · 06 Sep 2010

It's OK, although your system may not default to DDR3 1333. Manually adjusting the RAM settings in the Bios should get you there. What motherboard are you considering?

I am using DDR3 1600 with my I7-920, although I've had to adjust the BIOS settings to get it to play properly. Intel doesn't officially support six DDR3 1600 with its X58 chipset and I& CPUs, but I got it to work by backing off the timings a little.

OEM · 06 Sep 2010

bobkn said:

It's OK, although your system may not default to DDR3 1333. Manually adjusting the RAM settings in the Bios should get you there. What motherboard are you considering?

I am using DDR3 1600 with my I7-920, although I've had to adjust the BIOS settings to get it to play properly. Intel doesn't officially support six DDR3 1600 with its X58 chipset and I& CPUs, but I got it to work by backing off the timings a little.

Hi and thanks for the help, I too went with an x58 board, Gigabytes GA-X58A-UD3R

After a few search terms, I found my answer and was relived to say the least. I hate rma'ing stuff. All that red tape. Glad to hear its a good choice as they also say there's not much more to gain past 1333.

Here's what I read:
Core i7 Memory Scaling: From DDR3-800 to DDR3-1600 : Which RAM Speed Is Best For Core i7?
http://techgage.com/article/intel_core_i7_-_choosing_the_best_memory_kit/

In the mother manual here's what it says about double and triple channel:

Dual Channel--
1. Dual Channel mode cannot be enabled if only one DDR3 memory module is installed.
2. When enabling Dual Channel mode with two or four modules, it is recommended that memory of the same capacity, brand, speed, and chips be used. When enabling Dual Channel mode with two memory modules, be sure to install them in the DDR3_1 and DDR3_3 sockets.
3 Channel--
1. 3 Channel mode cannot be enabled if only one or two DDR3 memory modules are installed.
2. 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.

Thnx Again for the help
-oem

Techymike · 06 Sep 2010

Keep in mind that the CPU is not the only draw back. The MB you use will most likely default to 1066 unless you overclock it. This based on what I have seen on your system. Mine defaults to the 1066 and after tweaking I did manage to get it to the 1600 speed. I saw no benefit and decided to revert it back to the 1066. Basically just don't spend the extra money for a faster speed unless you intend to overclock your system. It is that simple.

veldthui · 07 Sep 2010

Mine (with I7 980X) defaults to 1333 but can go much faster (2100). If I turn the auto detect on for Max Perf for the ram it picks up the top speed but only uses 4GB of the 8GB detected (4x2GB). Obviously is it having timing troubles with the other 4GB. I have not played with the timings yet as it is very fast as is and nothing that I use is pushing it yet so I leave it at the default 1333.

Mellon Head · 07 Sep 2010

veldthui said:

Mine (with I7 980X) defaults to 1333 but can go much faster (2100). If I turn the auto detect on for Max Perf for the ram it picks up the top speed but only uses 4GB of the 8GB detected (4x2GB). Obviously is it having timing troubles with the other 4GB. I have not played with the timings yet as it is very fast as is and nothing that I use is pushing it yet so I leave it at the default 1333.

You'll find that using 8 GB at top speed isn't always easy. If you have four x 2 GB sticks, the first two will OC just fine, but OCing with all four puts a little bit of strain on the memory controller. In an AMD system, it often requires a little bump in the NorthBridge voltage to run stable at the OC'd memory speed. I would suspect that an Intel rig would have a similar requirement.

OEM · 11 Sep 2010

It did default to 1066, but I could easily go into the bios memory and bump it up to 1333 without having to adjust cpu. The mb led meter for the ram shows that its running "under load" so to speak, but its been running fine, no problems, no bsod. The led meter shows loading with 5 LED's and so with just 1 lit up, its shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for the help on the ram.

PC has been great so far and scores 7.9 for both video tests, 7.7 for ram, cpu 7.5 and the hard drives were 6.1, and are the weakest link even though they're raptors 10,000rpm in raid0. It might not consider the raid when testing, but each hard drive itself in the system. What is nicely matched is the fact that the raptors are sataII in raid0 and the 3rd terabyte drive being sataIII (6.0 Gbit/s), transfers are fast between them. Even large amounts of small files moves very fast. sataIII is without a doubt a nice increase in speed. Now we have to find a 3.0USB device to test.

Windows Score:

Attachment 97033