4 ram slots on a dual channel motherboard

[MyName13]

Why do most motherboards have 4 ram slots even though they don't support quad channel ram?Is this because mixing different pairs of ram is safer (1 pair on 1 color, 2nd pair on another color) than mixing 2 different sticks on the  same colored slots (like on motherboards with only 2 ram slots)?

[iRileyx]

Because most with only 2 ram slots only support up to 32gb ram. 4 slots can generally support 64gb instead.

 

plus its runs at 2 dual channels.

[manikyath]

because every channel can handle two dimms, that's why most quad channel chipsets come with 8 slots

[zMeul]

because the only way to get 64GB or RAM is to get 4x16GB kitts

[typographie]

1 hour ago, MyName13 said:

Why do most motherboards have 4 ram slots even though they don't support quad channel ram?Is this because mixing different pairs of ram is safer (1 pair on 1 color, 2nd pair on another color) than mixing 2 different sticks on the  same colored slots (like on motherboards with only 2 ram slots)?

My best guess is that it's just a balance between space and capacity. Two slots is unnecessarily limiting on an ATX motherboard, and six would probably become a space issue. Four fits the form factor easily and gives mainstream consumers plenty of capacity.

 

I don't think the number of channels are a factor, aside from the fact that there needs to be an even number of slots to properly support dual (or quad). Dual-channel just means you need to match up each pair of DIMMs. You can have two (or more, probably) matching sets and that's still dual-channel on a CPU that supports it.