/Sigh Memory/RAM help

Enderfect · January 3, 2015

Hello!! soo ive run into 2 small confusion points i have finished building my 3rd PC and this will probably shock some.. but id like to be brought to speed on this

Id like to know about Quad Channel memory???

Im Running an asus sabertooth 990fx R2.0 With an AMD FX 8320 im currently using a corsair vegance 8GB Dual Channel Kit...

My Motherboard says it supports Dual channel... and up to 32GBs Ram but theres still 2 ram slots empty and i have a dual channel kit already inside

1. Can i use a quad channel kit? how would that work if my mobo only states to support "Dual Channel"

Ive always been confused on this.. as i have read others using quad channel kits i guess ive been just lucky putting my builds together but id like to learn these 2 small factors for upgrades in the future

2. My Second issue is Ram Speeds now i saw Linustechtips video on how the ram speed in (Mhz) Only does so much for overall performance where as latency is more beneficial

but according to both my CPU & Motherboard it supports up tp 1866Mhz which is the ram im running right now via XMP profile, but i have read a few places people have gotten theres much higher or bought higher speed sticks

If this could be explained to me i would be very grateful as my confusion has sprawled from irritation by the listings on the support pages while multible sources saying they have this or this

(Generally Memory/RAM info im lacking in the knowledge of building or clocking as ive just always went ok top speed listed on Mobo at store is 1866 cpu 1866 buy 1866..)

PS Im sorry

dadasmithywinkle · January 3, 2015

Quad channel is an X79/X99 feature that allows for four sticks of ram to communicate with each other. Dual channel is a feature used among AMD and most Intel systems that allow for two sticks to 'talk' to each other. Howerver, dual channel systems will not turn into quad channel if they have four sticks of ram. Yes, as long as you have four slots on your mobo, you can use quad channel kits but they'll run as two dual channel.

Speed of the ram is the clock speed. It generally doesn't make too much of a difference in the speed that you have. XMP is an Intel ram technology and really only allows for an easy ram speed configuration in Intel systems. This being said, XMP ram will still work in AMD systems. Anywho, a 1600mhz set of ram won't preform much differently than 1866mhz ram. To answer your question - an 1866 CPU is garunteed to run a max of 1866 ram (but generally can run higher ram). Motherboards can generally support a variety of ram speeds. Ram can be overclocked just like a CPU, allowing for verying speeds.

If you have any questions, let me know. If I have anything wrong in here, anyone should feel free to correct me.