DDR 3 ram choices

I happen to know for a fact that it's not necessary to buy a 3x whatever "kit" to get triple channel mode, because about year ago, I upgraded a system from 4GB to 12GB, 2 DIMMs at a time because that was all I could afford to buy after getting a new motherboard and a core I7 to go with it. I also happen to know for a fact that you don't have to fill all 6 slots with 2 identical sets of 3x whatever to keep triple channel mode when using all six slots, so long as both sets of 3 have the same clock speed and the same timing. Any 3 ddr3 memory of the same model# will work in triple channel mode, even if you only purchase them one at a time

madtownidiot.Interesting...i have decided to go with looking for a single stick of the 2x2gig that i have now,so it will then be the same in speed and make and so on,if i cant find the single i will need to get 3 new ones,its cheaper sometimes to get a kit of 3 allready in it,you know?

You're right that it is sometimes cheaper overall to get a kit of 3, but a lot of people can't afford to buy 3 DIMMs at once especially after spending several hundred on a new mobo/cpu, power supply, and graphics cards. At the time I built my last i7 machine, 2GB dimms of DDR3 1600 was about $120 each. I've heard too many people say "it's gotta be a triple channel kit" to enable triple channel mode and that simply isn't true. Dual or triple channel memory mode is really nothing more complicated than raid 0 for two or three HDDs, and works much the same way, with the only requirement being the hardware has to be identical.

Yeah nah i understand,and my budget will let me get a new set of ram,and 3 in a kit is just easier to get.I will just save the other 2 sticks for spares or maybe put them in too,will it work like that?

Alsisgevat said:

Yeah nah i understand,and my budget will let me get a new set of ram,and 3 in a kit is just easier to get.I will just save the other 2 sticks for spares or maybe put them in too,will it work like that?

Only way to find out is to try. If your motherboard has a good memory controller, all 10 GB will be seen in BIOS with 3 DIMMs in triple channel while the other two run in single channel mode. A cheap memory controller will run all five in single channel mode or worse only show 6GB total. I haven't used that motherboard so I don't know for sure which will be the case, but everything I've read about it so far is good

its a pretty expensive high end mb,and was rated under top 5 editors chioce bords,so it will most likely do the triple chanels and then single the other 2.But sounds like a hasle i will just get 4x3g,thats 12 gig of triple.so its setled.Thanx for all the advise

I've said it before and I'll say it again, RAM is RAM is RAM is RAM. The fact is any stick of RAM that's compatible with your motherboard will do for the most part. I would never recommend overpaying for brands or because an editor rated it highly because in the end, the performance gain you may notice (if any) would either be negligible or a placebo to justify paying more.

A recommandation is for your initial purchase of RAM, to buy matching RAM as mixing and matching brands of RAM sometimes makes motherboards act wonky.

Darician said:

I've said it before and I'll say it again, RAM is RAM is RAM is RAM. The fact is any stick of RAM that's compatible with your motherboard will do for the most part. I would never recommend overpaying for brands or because an editor rated it highly because in the end, the performance gain you may notice (if any) would either be negligible or a placebo to justify paying more.

A recommandation is for your initial purchase of RAM, to buy matching RAM as mixing and matching brands of RAM sometimes makes motherboards act wonky.

Dont agree with your ram is ram statement,if you have weak ram and you run for argument sake paint-shop pro it WILL lag,if you have high performance ram it will run smoothly.And the editor choice i mentioned aint about ram but about my motherboard,and i know for a fackt that slow ram affects you motherboard performance allot and games too

It's been a while since I built an intel box. I've done 5 AM3 boxes so far this year, because for the price of a I7-980x and the mobo you have, I can build an AM3 box with a 1090t and a 790 or 890FX board, a liquid cooling setup, safely overclock it by 40-50% and still have enough left over for a decent graphics card.. not saying I think AMD is better than intel, because if the economy were better I'd much rather build more $4000+ systems using i7s, but the last one I built still hasn't sold yet.

madtownidiot said:

It's been a while since I built an intel box. I've done 5 AM3 boxes so far this year, because for the price of a I7-980x and the mobo you have, I can build an AM3 box with a 1090t and a 790 or 890FX board, a liquid cooling setup, safely overclock it by 40-50% and still have enough left over for a decent graphics card.. not saying I think AMD is better than intel, because if the economy were better I'd much rather build more $4000+ systems using i7s, but the last one I built still hasn't sold yet.

Very true,and save alitle more you can get a very good gfx card,so you get nice valhe for money