dual channel ram in quad channel inputs.

im looking at a lga 2011 x79 board. namely this one>
Newegg.com - ASRock X79 Extreme6 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

but am looking at this ram>
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8Q-16GBZH

do i absolutely need to place 8 sticks of ram in? or can i get away with staggering 4 sticks accross the board instead?

I haven't seen any reviews of the x 79 boards, but I would be very very surprised if 4 sticks would not work.

Or even two sticks.

ignatzatsonic said:

I haven't seen any reviews of the x 79 boards, but I would be very very surprised if 4 sticks would not work.

Or even two sticks.

thank you. some people are saying x79 boards are bad for gaming because they are more powerful but not as responsive, 1 for every 2 that say its fine for gaming though. some people say its a huge difference, others are saying its about as big of a difference as 1600 ram and 1866 ram. so thats throwing me off a little, but its not just for gaming so thats fine too.

Asrock makes a manual for the board available for download. I suggest that you read it.

The board supports dual, triple, and quad channel memory. The minimum number of DIMMs to get quad channel is 4.

I doubt that you'd gain much over an SB system, if your main use is gaming. If you want to use 4 graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire, then SB-E may be the best choice, as it offers 40 PCI-E lanes (vs. 16 for SB). SB-E is also good if you run software that makes full use of multi-core CPUs.

Example: my desktop machine at work is a Dell Precision T3500, with a Xeon W3520, 2.66GHZ, quad core, hyperthreading. My hobby machine use an I7-3930k, oc'd to 4.5 GHz. In the 64 bit version of Zemax (lens design code), the 3930k gave 3X the performance of the Dell. It'd be a worthwhile boost (2X) even at stock.

bobkn said:

Asrock makes a manual for the board available for download. I suggest that you read it.

The board supports dual, triple, and quad channel memory. The minimum number of DIMMs to get quad channel is 4.

I doubt that you'd gain much over an SB system, if your main use is gaming. If you want to use 4 graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire, then SB-E may be the best choice, as it offers 40 PCI-E lanes (vs. 16 for SB). SB-E is also good if you run software that makes full use of multi-core CPUs.

Example: my desktop machine at work is a Dell Precision T3500, with a Xeon W3520, 2.66GHZ, quad core, hyperthreading. My hobby machine use an I7-3930k, oc'd to 4.5 GHz. In the 64 bit version of Zemax (lens design code), the 3930k gave 3X the performance of the Dell. It'd be a worthwhile boost (2X) even at stock.

giming is a use, but is not the only use, i am a 3d developer, this will be my main computer, my current build, i am throwing into a server farm. im running a 6970 now and have plans to upgrade to a gtx 680 shortly.

to be honest, im in for the 2011 socket more for this>
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820

than anything else.

Edit: although, i will say, the 2700k performs within a 300pt difference of mine, and 300pts higher than a 2600k, in perportion, its a bit better than the 2600k, im just not sure a 1155 socket is best.

heres the benchmark> http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

i know benchmarks dont mean much anymore, but following this, should i wait till the 3770k Ivy Bridge?