Quad channel RAM in dual channel board.

[DELTAprime]

Is this advice Linus gave back in 2013 still accurate? I will be getting a new ATX socket 1151 board but want to populate all 4 DIMM slots for visual appearance which Linus says can cause issues sometimes. If it is still current what is the best way to avoid issues when using a quad channel kit in a dual channel board?

 

[Shiv78]

Don't use a quad channel kit and get 2 dual channel ones?

[Sakkura]

Make sure you buy a single matched kit. Combining two dual-channel kits is not a good idea, since they're not matched or tested to work together.

[mathijs727]

For me running 2 x Corsair Vengeance (same specs) with different colors is 100% stable and it looks great (the red ones are shiny metal, black ones are matte plastic  ).

[Andster29]

Quad channel ram just means that it is certified to work in quad channel setups with no issues. 

[Mikensan]

As @Andster29 said - the quad kit just means it's verified to work together. Doesn't mean you have to use it in a quad channel system. 

[2FA]

10 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

Make sure you buy a single matched kit. Combining two dual-channel kits is not a good idea, since they're not matched or tested to work together.

I'll be honest, I've messed around with many different sticks of RAM at work that are not from the same kit and they all worked fine. By that I mean taking a pile of RAM we had sitting on a shelf and installing it in several dozen PCs. The chances of them not working together is very slim.

[MusicMayne]

I'm running a Z170 Hero Alpha with quad channel ram made for X99 going on a year now no issues.  

[SpaceGhostC2C]

12 minutes ago, DeadEyePsycho said:

I'll be honest, I've messed around with many different sticks of RAM at work that are not from the same kit and they all worked fine. By that I mean taking a pile of RAM we had sitting on a shelf and installing it in several dozen PCs. The chances of them not working together is very slim.

I think the risk is limited to sticks not working at the rated speed if they have slightly different timings, or even if they are all rated for the same frequency/timings, they may not be able to run all 4 together at those timings. Some boards have a harder time holding the XMP the mroe sticks you put in them. But there will be a combination of settings at which they all work, at the very least the platform's standard (like DDR4 2133 CL15 for 1151 systems).

[porina]

Safest option is buy a quad kit at standard speed. I've found in one of my systems it was unstable running 4 sticks of 3333 rated ram and I had to drop it to 3000 in that configuration for 100% stability.

[Harjan]

7 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

I think the risk is limited to sticks not working at the rated speed if they have slightly different timings, or even if they are all rated for the same frequency/timings, they may not be able to run all 4 together at those timings. Some boards have a harder time holding the XMP the mroe sticks you put in them. But there will be a combination of settings at which they all work, at the very least the platform's standard (like DDR4 2133 CL15 for 1151 systems).

This ^ is correct!
And most of the time your overclock on the CPU wont be able to go as high as it would be able to otherwise, before becoming unstable.