Solved 16 GBs of RAM not working on ASUS motherboard

Randomrocket · Nov 19, 2011

Ill order another set of the Kingston so that way theyre the same

The Kingston RAM is very small... its kind of weird. First I thought I ordered laptop RAM on accident but I checked the part number and it matches... Its about half the height of normal desktop RAM.

TVeblen · Nov 19, 2011

Interesting. I never would have noticed if you hadn't pointed it out, but when you look at the picture of the Kingston RAM it looks perfectly normal. But upon closer inspection you can see that the Kingston RAM has 2 circular notches on the side, and the Crucial has 3! Good info to know, thanks!

The Ripsaw RAM also has only 2 notches. Was it short too?

Randomrocket · Nov 19, 2011

no.... wow, now that I look at the Kingston picture on newegg, it looks normal size but it is definitely not the same as the real stick! I can take a picture in a sec comparing them to my old RAM...

Dave76 · Nov 20, 2011

Sometimes the manufacturer changes the card design, uses larger capacity memory chips, which take up less space.
If they get it right they will work with the older larger cards, but it is possible to cause compatibility issues.

It is down to luck most of the time, the same part number RAM cards from a different batches sometimes aren't compatible.
That is why it's recommended to get all your RAM in one kit.
Mixed brands and kits can and do work together but, not all the time.

Randomrocket · Nov 20, 2011

Sorry for the horrible quality picture, I don't have a decent camera for taking pictures but you get the idea of size comparison...

Gator · Nov 20, 2011

You won't benefit from using Quad channeling on a Dual channel motherboard.

Wordsworth · Nov 20, 2011

Randomrocket said:
could it be a BIOS problem? I got the mobo in 2009...

Good guess. If you have a board a couple of years old with the original or old BIOS, the BIOS would be high on the list of suspects. Manufacturers like to advertise a mobo will take XX amount of RAM, or the next generation CPU. What they leave out is that it will require a BIOS update to enable the upgrade.

Not too much trouble with RAM. But sometimes a user will install a new CPU only to find they need to flash the BIOS which will mean re-installing the old CPU to do it.

Glad everything worked out for you, enjoy.

TVeblen · Nov 20, 2011

Randomrocket said:
Sorry for the horrible quality picture, I don't have a decent camera for taking pictures but you get the idea of size comparison...

It looks efficient. The memory chips look to be about the same size. Less redundant plastic. I like it.

It might stay out of the way of the really big CPU coolers.

TVeblen · Nov 20, 2011

mhansen1 said:
You won't benefit from using Quad channeling on a Dual channel motherboard.

Just to clarify things - there seems to be some confusion.

In all of my preceding comments I am talking about RAM kits.
In all instances it was always assumed that we are talking about individual RAM modules of the exact same Brand, model number, and specification.

When buying RAM with the exact same Brand, model number, and specification it will not matter whether you buy 4 individual sticks all at the same time, two 2-module kits, or one 4 module kit. It is all the same RAM.

RAM modules sold in a "Quad Channel Kit" is not special. It is just 4 matched modules that came off the same run to minimize the problems that can occur when you mix the modules from different manufacturing batches (runs). (Keep in mind that these issues usually only come up when you are overclocking.)

4 sticks of RAM sold in a Quad Channel Kit will work perfectly fine in a Dual Channel system. The modules are dumb. It is the motherboard that determines what mode the RAM modules will run in.

Hope that helps clarify things.

Gator · Nov 20, 2011

TVeblen said:
mhansen1 said:

You won't benefit from using Quad channeling on a Dual channel motherboard.

Click to expand...

Just to clarify things - there seems to be some confusion.

In all of my preceding comments I am talking about RAM kits.
In all instances it was always assumed that we are talking about individual RAM modules of the exact same Brand, model number, and specification.

When buying RAM with the exact same Brand, model number, and specification it will not matter whether you buy 4 individual sticks all at the same time, two 2-module kits, or one 4 module kit. It is all the same RAM.

RAM modules sold in a "Quad Channel Kit" is not special. It is just 4 matched modules that came off the same run to minimize the problems that can occur when you mix the modules from different manufacturing batches (runs). (Keep in mind that these issues usually only come up when you are overclocking.)

4 sticks of RAM sold in a Quad Channel Kit will work perfectly fine in a Dual Channel system. The modules are dumb. It is the motherboard that determines what mode the RAM modules will run in.

Hope that helps clarify things.

I understand that it will work, although some mobos are known to not run with 4 sticks installed. What I mean is that you will not get the benefit from using 4 sticks of ram in a dual channel system. You will get the ram but its not going to be any faster, and in some cases it can be slower than using 2 sticks that equal the amount of ram you want.

Wordsworth · Nov 20, 2011

mhansen1 said:
What I mean is that you will not get the benefit from using 4 sticks of ram in a dual channel system. You will get the ram but its not going to be any faster, and in some cases it can be slower than using 2 sticks that equal the amount of ram you want.

What you mean is the OP will not get Quad-channel speed benefits with a dual channel system. Yes. But this motherboard won't take more than 4GB per slot according to Asus; so the OP can't buy two 8GB sticks for a dual-channel install to equal the same 16GB. What the OP has bought will work to give a greater amount of RAM if that's what is needed for say video encoding.

Gator · Nov 20, 2011

Wordsworth said:
mhansen1 said:

What I mean is that you will not get the benefit from using 4 sticks of ram in a dual channel system. You will get the ram but its not going to be any faster, and in some cases it can be slower than using 2 sticks that equal the amount of ram you want.

Click to expand...

What you mean is the OP will not get Quad-channel speed benefits with a dual channel system. Yes. But this motherboard won't take more than 4GB per slot according to Asus; so the OP can't buy two 8GB sticks for a dual-channel install to equal the same 16GB. What the OP has bought will work to give a greater amount of RAM if that's what is needed for say video encoding.

Makes sense. I didn't really read the whole thread since it was already solved, I probably should have done that in hindsight. I just wanted to address the mistake a lot of people make by trying to install 4 sticks into their dual channel system.

Dave76 · Nov 21, 2011

TVeblen said:
mhansen1 said:

You won't benefit from using Quad channeling on a Dual channel motherboard.

Click to expand...

Just to clarify things - there seems to be some confusion.

In all of my preceding comments I am talking about RAM kits.
In all instances it was always assumed that we are talking about individual RAM modules of the exact same Brand, model number, and specification.

When buying RAM with the exact same Brand, model number, and specification it will not matter whether you buy 4 individual sticks all at the same time, two 2-module kits, or one 4 module kit. It is all the same RAM.

RAM modules sold in a "Quad Channel Kit" is not special. It is just 4 matched modules that came off the same run to minimize the problems that can occur when you mix the modules from different manufacturing batches (runs). (Keep in mind that these issues usually only come up when you are overclocking.)

4 sticks of RAM sold in a Quad Channel Kit will work perfectly fine in a Dual Channel system. The modules are dumb. It is the motherboard that determines what mode the RAM modules will run in.

Hope that helps clarify things.

Agree with TVeblen.

A four RAM slot, dual channel motherboard has two RAM slots for each channel.
When you have two RAM cards you need to put them in different channels to get the maximum performance.

The new four RAM slot, Quad channel motherboards have four channels.
They all use the same RAM, the number of channels on the motherboard is the only difference.

A lot of people, including me, have run four RAM cards in dual channel systems with no settings adjustments needed and no issues.

If a system won't run with four RAM cards, usually it needs some settings adjustments.
RAM voltage, NB (North Bridge - separate or integrated) voltage, it depends on the luck of the draw of the components and how they work together.
Sometimes the frequencies and timings may need adjusting.

There have been a few motherboards that just refuse to run four RAM cards, but not that many of them.

Gator · Nov 21, 2011

I just want to clarify that I specifically mean that in a dual-channel system, using 4 sticks of ram increases the load on the bus. This means that it's slower than using 2 sticks in a dual channel. Like you said, it "works" and in the case of the OP, it's necessary.. but if you're looking for performance, 4 sticks in a dual-channel system is not the way to go.

Dave76 · Nov 22, 2011

Sorry, but have to disagree.

My OEM dual-channel system RAM performance is just fine with four cards installed.
2x2GB and 2x1GB.

Are you having performance issues with your 6GB?

OEM systems can be harder to get running smoothly, if the RAM isn't matched, due to the limited BIOS.

Gator · Nov 22, 2011

Dave76 said:
Sorry, but have to disagree.

My OEM dual-channel system RAM performance is just fine with four cards installed.
2x2GB and 2x1GB.

Are you having performance issues with your 6GB?

OEM systems can be harder to get running smoothly, if the RAM isn't matched, due to the limited BIOS.

It's not a huge difference, you may not even really notice it unless you benchmark it (I've only seen one benchmark test this and performance was lower with 4 sticks). But it is a fact that 4 sticks in a dual channel system slow it down a little. The memory controller has to work harder to pull information from each module and it puts more traffic on the bus, creating more latency.

Randomrocket · Nov 22, 2011

Got my 16 GBs working now and I can't tell a difference on speed... Check my system specs if you want

Dave76 · Nov 23, 2011

Congrats, glad to hear you got it running stable.

Now you can enjoy your system.

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