Asus X470 Dual or Quad channel?

[_Grid21]

I recently upgraded my motherboard to 32GB of DDR4 ram and filled all 4 of my ram slots. But I was wondering, does anyone know if the Asus ROG Strix X470-F is a dual or Quad channel motherboard? How do I tell, I read the manual but I am still confused. Sorry I know this sounds like a simple question but I wanted to know what I had.

[XR6]

It's a dual channel board.

[_Grid21]

Just now, 1kv said:

It's a dual channel board.

Ouch, Ok. Am I losing any performance by having a dual channel board? Even with all the ram slots filled?

[XR6]

Just now, _Grid21 said:

Ouch, Ok. Am I losing any performance by having a dual channel board? Even with all the ram slots filled?

You'd probably lose a few FPS (about 2-5) but it shouldn't have a major impact on performance.

[_Grid21]

Just now, 1kv said:

You'd probably lose a few FPS (about 2-5) but it shouldn't have a major impact on performance.

What about rendering videos and streaming?

[XR6]

4 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

What about rendering videos and streaming?

You'd probably lose a little bit of performance, but it wouldn't be too bad. 

[Jurrunio]

31 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

Ouch, Ok. Am I losing any performance by having a dual channel board? Even with all the ram slots filled?

All AM4 boards are dual channel max because that's the max for the CPUs on this socket.

[_Grid21]

54 minutes ago, 1kv said:

You'd probably lose a little bit of performance, but it wouldn't be too bad. 

 

28 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

All AM4 boards are dual channel max because that's the max for the CPUs on this socket.

What was the reason for AMD going for dual channel only and not quad? Are more newer Intel boards quad channel as oppose to AMD?

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, _Grid21 said:

Ouch, Ok. Am I losing any performance by having a dual channel board?

There are no quad channel boards for AM4, only LGA20xx and AMD TR4 are Quad Channel.

1 hour ago, _Grid21 said:

Even with all the ram slots filled?

Yes, as max. possible frequency is reduced a bit.

[Fasauceome]

20 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

 

What was the reason for AMD going for dual channel only and not quad? Are more newer Intel boards quad channel as oppose to AMD?

AMD does quad, but only for threadripper. Same for Intel, only does quad on the high end big boys like X299.

[Stefan Payne]

15 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

What was the reason for AMD going for dual channel only and not quad?

You need about 64pins (rather a bit more) per Channel, so that would increase the complexety and with that price dramatically.

And to be fair, most people don't really need it - or are willing to pay the price for it.

15 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

Are more newer Intel boards quad channel as oppose to AMD?

 No, they are not as we are talking about really expensive High end desktop Boards.

[_Grid21]

9 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

AMD does quad, but only for threadripper. Same for Intel, only does quad on the high end big boys like X299.

 

8 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

You need about 64pins (rather a bit more) per Channel, so that would increase the complexety and with that price dramatically.

And to be fair, most people don't really need it - or are willing to pay the price for it.

 No, they are not as we are talking about really expensive High end desktop Boards.

Ok so other than just gaining more system ram which was a blessing for streaming and now rendering videos. I haven't gained anything else? I also noticed that while D.O.C.P. is still enabled, I noticed clock timings are ever so slightly higher. Would it be possible to safely reduce the timings and boost the speed on Corsair vengeance RGB ram?

[Stormseeker9]

17 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

 

Ok so other than just gaining more system ram which was a blessing for streaming and now rendering videos. I haven't gained anything else? I also noticed that while D.O.C.P. is still enabled, I noticed clock timings are ever so slightly higher. Would it be possible to safely reduce the timings and boost the speed on Corsair vengeance RGB ram?

What exact ram do you have? Set in the bios to rated speed + enable XMP.

[Jurrunio]

10 hours ago, _Grid21 said:

I haven't gained anything else?

Compared to two sticks with the same frequency and timings, no you havent.

 

10 hours ago, _Grid21 said:

I noticed clock timings are ever so slightly higher.

that's normal, because higher frequency is harsh on the memory and memory controller, so the timings are a bit worse to compensate.

 

10 hours ago, _Grid21 said:

Would it be possible to safely reduce the timings and boost the speed on Corsair vengeance RGB ram?

yes it's safe

[_Grid21]

4 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Compared to two sticks with the same frequency and timings, no you havent.

 

that's normal, because higher frequency is harsh on the memory and memory controller, so the timings are a bit worse to compensate.

 

yes it's safe

I am not familiar with lowing timings. My current timings are this. http://prntscr.com/mpi1ew So what timings and voltage could I go to?

[Jurrunio]

3 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

I am not familiar with lowing timings. My current timings are this. http://prntscr.com/mpi1ew So what timings and voltage could I go to?

Timings are a trial and error process. Start with the first one and work your way through.

 

Voltage: 1.5V max for daily systems, 1.8V for short benchmarks

[_Grid21]

Just now, ReggieGRS said:

Also high end old boys like the x99

I am kinda surprised that this being an "X" board it's not quad considering the video Linus did about what the different letters and numbers mean.

[airdeano]

it really doesn't rest on the motherboard manufacturer of the RAM specs, but the CPU and their instructions capabilities.

whether dual channel can function in a performance sector, the topology of the motherboard manufacturer can affect this.

 

 

[Kalm_Traveler]

IIRC the jump in performance from single channel to dual channel is much more pronounced than from dual to quad.

 

Between my two Titan RTX rigs the only perceptible gaming difference I can tell is that the 9900k is clocked a lot higher than the 7960x - they have the same RAM, just the 9900k has 2 sticks in dual channel, 7960x has 4 sticks in quad channel, same graphics cards (9900k has 1, 7960x has 2 - but some games I play only use 1).

 

short version is I wouldn't worry about it. Just get dual and be happy.

[_Grid21]

2 hours ago, Kalm_Traveler1 said:

IIRC the jump in performance from single channel to dual channel is much more pronounced than from dual to quad.

 

Between my two Titan RTX rigs the only perceptible gaming difference I can tell is that the 9900k is clocked a lot higher than the 7960x - they have the same RAM, just the 9900k has 2 sticks in dual channel, 7960x has 4 sticks in quad channel, same graphics cards (9900k has 1, 7960x has 2 - but some games I play only use 1).

 

short version is I wouldn't worry about it. Just get dual and be happy.

I'm totally happy! I love my board for the nice PCIe advantages too, for example, the 2 16x Slots aren't shared. I was just curious how it was laid out and why.

2 hours ago, airdeano said:

it really doesn't rest on the motherboard manufacturer of the RAM specs, but the CPU and their instructions capabilities.

whether dual channel can function in a performance sector, the topology of the motherboard manufacturer can affect this.

So since my board is "dual channel" does that mean it's Daisy Chained because of not only the color coding but also the way A DIMM and *A DIMM with the " * " symbol?

[Fasauceome]

2 hours ago, _Grid21 said:

I am kinda surprised that this being an "X" board it's not quad considering the video Linus did about what the different letters and numbers mean.

Well, AMD uses X differently from Intel. They should have used a different letter for simplicity though.

[_Grid21]

So dual channel is daisy chain? Givin the video information I watched?

Edit: Does that also mean my motherboard is daisy chain Dual channel?

[Stefan Payne]

9 hours ago, _Grid21 said:

So dual channel is daisy chain? Givin the video information I watched?

No, Dual Channel means 2 independant Memory Channels.

Back in the day you'd call that 128bit Memory interface, while Single Channel is only 64bit.

 

Because its independant, you can put anything inside and don't have to put the 2x the same in each socket.

For example, back in the day, the newer boards had "quad channel" Interface wich required 4 of the same memory Sticks.

In that case it was 30pin SIMMs with just 8bit 

 

9 hours ago, _Grid21 said:

Edit: Does that also mean my motherboard is daisy chain Dual channel?

There is no daisy chain here, its in parallel. Daisy Chain is something more seen in the RAMBUS Serial bus. That's the only "Daisy Chain" Example I have for the Memory Bus.

 

 You just have two Sticks in the bus, both connected in Parallel. And that causes Problems because of the high frequencys, the interferences that causes (the PCBs are actually antennas) and the driving power needed to drive them...

[_Grid21]

On 2/25/2019 at 2:01 PM, Stefan Payne said:

No, Dual Channel means 2 independant Memory Channels.

Back in the day you'd call that 128bit Memory interface, while Single Channel is only 64bit.

 

Because its independant, you can put anything inside and don't have to put the 2x the same in each socket.

For example, back in the day, the newer boards had "quad channel" Interface wich required 4 of the same memory Sticks.

In that case it was 30pin SIMMs with just 8bit 

 

There is no daisy chain here, its in parallel. Daisy Chain is something more seen in the RAMBUS Serial bus. That's the only "Daisy Chain" Example I have for the Memory Bus.

 

 You just have two Sticks in the bus, both connected in Parallel. And that causes Problems because of the high frequencys, the interferences that causes (the PCBs are actually antennas) and the driving power needed to drive them...

So even though DOCP is enabled and running around the same speed as before, it's harder to overclock the ram further because of the Parallel? 

[Stefan Payne]

3 hours ago, _Grid21 said:

So even though DOCP is enabled and running around the same speed as before, it's harder to overclock the ram further because of the Parallel? 

Because of the higher load and the interferences caused by the second stick on the bus.