Jump to content

Dual CPU system RAM config?

pyrojoe34
By pyrojoe34
in Servers, NAS, and Home Lab
 Share
Posted

So I've upgraded my Server (Dell PowerEdge T610) from a single E5620 (Quad core) to two E5645 (hexa core) CPUs. I'm wondering what the best way to config my RAM is between the two systems. I have 2 kits: 3x2GB ECC kit and 2x8GB non-ECC. Does each CPU need to have a matching RAM config?

 

The way I see it these are my options:

Option 1: Each CPU gets one 8GB stick (total 16GB)

Option 2: Each CPU gets one 8GB stick and one 2GB stick (total 20GB)

Option 3: CPU1 gets 2x8GB and CPU2 gets 3x2GB (total 22GB)

 

Is option 3 even possible? Can I mix and match like that and if I do will CPU2 still run tri-channel while CPU1 runs dual channel? If not, I'm thinking option 2 is the best balance between capacity and balance.

 

Thanks

 

Primary PC-

CPU: Intel i7-6800k @ 4.2-4.4Ghz   CPU COOLER: Bequiet Dark Rock Pro 4   MOBO: MSI X99A SLI Plus   RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX quad-channel DDR4-2800  GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 SC2 iCX   PSU: Corsair RM1000i   CASE: Corsair 750D Obsidian   SSDs: 500GB Samsung 960 Evo + 256GB Samsung 850 Pro   HDDs: Toshiba 3TB + Seagate 1TB   Monitors: Acer Predator XB271HUC 27" 2560x1440 (165Hz G-Sync)  +  LG 29UM57 29" 2560x1080   OS: Windows 10 Pro

Album

Other Systems:

Spoiler

Home HTPC/NAS-

CPU: AMD FX-8320 @ 4.4Ghz  MOBO: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3   RAM: 16GB dual-channel DDR3-1600  GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760 OC   PSU: Rosewill 750W   CASE: Antec Gaming One   SSD: 120GB PNY CS1311   HDDs: WD Red 3TB + WD 320GB   Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 26" 1920x1200 -or- Steam Link to Vizio M43C1 43" 4K TV  OS: Windows 10 Pro

 

Offsite NAS/VM Server-

CPU: 2x Xeon E5645 (12-core)  Model: Dell PowerEdge T610  RAM: 16GB DDR3-1333  PSUs: 2x 570W  SSDs: 8GB Kingston Boot FD + 32GB Sandisk Cache SSD   HDDs: WD Red 4TB + Seagate 2TB + Seagate 320GB   OS: FreeNAS 11+

 

Laptop-

CPU: Intel i7-3520M   Model: Dell Latitude E6530   RAM: 8GB dual-channel DDR3-1600  GPU: Nvidia NVS 5200M   SSD: 240GB TeamGroup L5   HDD: WD Black 320GB   Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 26" 1920x1200   OS: Windows 10 Pro

Having issues with a Corsair AIO? Possible fix here:

Spoiler

Are you getting weird fan behavior, speed fluctuations, and/or other issues with Link?

Are you running AIDA64, HWinfo, CAM, or HWmonitor? (ASUS suite & other monitoring software often have the same issue.)

Corsair Link has problems with some monitoring software so you may have to change some settings to get them to work smoothly.

-For AIDA64: First make sure you have the newest update installed, then, go to Preferences>Stability and make sure the "Corsair Link sensor support" box is checked and make sure the "Asetek LC sensor support" box is UNchecked.

-For HWinfo: manually disable all monitoring of the AIO sensors/components.

-For others: Disable any monitoring of Corsair AIO sensors.

That should fix the fan issue for some Corsair AIOs (H80i GT/v2, H110i GTX/H115i, H100i GTX and others made by Asetek). The problem is bad coding in Link that fights for AIO control with other programs. You can test if this worked by setting the fan speed in Link to 100%, if it doesn't fluctuate you are set and can change the curve to whatever. If that doesn't work or you're still having other issues then you probably still have a monitoring software interfering with the AIO/Link communications, find what it is and disable it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

So I tried Option 2 and It would not POST. I am now using Option 1 (which works) but would like to have the extra RAM if possible. Any chance you think Option 3 will work? I don't want to waste more time testing it right now to find out unless you think it's possible...

Primary PC-

CPU: Intel i7-6800k @ 4.2-4.4Ghz   CPU COOLER: Bequiet Dark Rock Pro 4   MOBO: MSI X99A SLI Plus   RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX quad-channel DDR4-2800  GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 SC2 iCX   PSU: Corsair RM1000i   CASE: Corsair 750D Obsidian   SSDs: 500GB Samsung 960 Evo + 256GB Samsung 850 Pro   HDDs: Toshiba 3TB + Seagate 1TB   Monitors: Acer Predator XB271HUC 27" 2560x1440 (165Hz G-Sync)  +  LG 29UM57 29" 2560x1080   OS: Windows 10 Pro

Album

Other Systems:

Spoiler

Home HTPC/NAS-

CPU: AMD FX-8320 @ 4.4Ghz  MOBO: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3   RAM: 16GB dual-channel DDR3-1600  GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760 OC   PSU: Rosewill 750W   CASE: Antec Gaming One   SSD: 120GB PNY CS1311   HDDs: WD Red 3TB + WD 320GB   Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 26" 1920x1200 -or- Steam Link to Vizio M43C1 43" 4K TV  OS: Windows 10 Pro

 

Offsite NAS/VM Server-

CPU: 2x Xeon E5645 (12-core)  Model: Dell PowerEdge T610  RAM: 16GB DDR3-1333  PSUs: 2x 570W  SSDs: 8GB Kingston Boot FD + 32GB Sandisk Cache SSD   HDDs: WD Red 4TB + Seagate 2TB + Seagate 320GB   OS: FreeNAS 11+

 

Laptop-

CPU: Intel i7-3520M   Model: Dell Latitude E6530   RAM: 8GB dual-channel DDR3-1600  GPU: Nvidia NVS 5200M   SSD: 240GB TeamGroup L5   HDD: WD Black 320GB   Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 26" 1920x1200   OS: Windows 10 Pro

Having issues with a Corsair AIO? Possible fix here:

Spoiler

Are you getting weird fan behavior, speed fluctuations, and/or other issues with Link?

Are you running AIDA64, HWinfo, CAM, or HWmonitor? (ASUS suite & other monitoring software often have the same issue.)

Corsair Link has problems with some monitoring software so you may have to change some settings to get them to work smoothly.

-For AIDA64: First make sure you have the newest update installed, then, go to Preferences>Stability and make sure the "Corsair Link sensor support" box is checked and make sure the "Asetek LC sensor support" box is UNchecked.

-For HWinfo: manually disable all monitoring of the AIO sensors/components.

-For others: Disable any monitoring of Corsair AIO sensors.

That should fix the fan issue for some Corsair AIOs (H80i GT/v2, H110i GTX/H115i, H100i GTX and others made by Asetek). The problem is bad coding in Link that fights for AIO control with other programs. You can test if this worked by setting the fan speed in Link to 100%, if it doesn't fluctuate you are set and can change the curve to whatever. If that doesn't work or you're still having other issues then you probably still have a monitoring software interfering with the AIO/Link communications, find what it is and disable it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
4 minutes ago, pyrojoe34 said:

So I tried Option 2 and It would not POST. I am now using Option 1 (which works) but would like to have the extra RAM if possible. Any chance you think Option 3 will work? I don't want to waste more time testing it right now to find out unless you think it's possible...

Swapping ram doesn't take too long. I say go for it

 

Fanboys are the worst thing to happen to the tech community World. Chief among them are Apple fanboys. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author
10 minutes ago, Ginger_ said:

Swapping ram doesn't take too long. I say go for it

 

Well I gave it a shot... it does not appear that ECC and non-ECC play nice together. No post... I guess I'm stuck using 16GB in single channel mode for the time being...

Primary PC-

CPU: Intel i7-6800k @ 4.2-4.4Ghz   CPU COOLER: Bequiet Dark Rock Pro 4   MOBO: MSI X99A SLI Plus   RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX quad-channel DDR4-2800  GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 SC2 iCX   PSU: Corsair RM1000i   CASE: Corsair 750D Obsidian   SSDs: 500GB Samsung 960 Evo + 256GB Samsung 850 Pro   HDDs: Toshiba 3TB + Seagate 1TB   Monitors: Acer Predator XB271HUC 27" 2560x1440 (165Hz G-Sync)  +  LG 29UM57 29" 2560x1080   OS: Windows 10 Pro

Album

Other Systems:

Spoiler

Home HTPC/NAS-

CPU: AMD FX-8320 @ 4.4Ghz  MOBO: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3   RAM: 16GB dual-channel DDR3-1600  GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760 OC   PSU: Rosewill 750W   CASE: Antec Gaming One   SSD: 120GB PNY CS1311   HDDs: WD Red 3TB + WD 320GB   Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 26" 1920x1200 -or- Steam Link to Vizio M43C1 43" 4K TV  OS: Windows 10 Pro

 

Offsite NAS/VM Server-

CPU: 2x Xeon E5645 (12-core)  Model: Dell PowerEdge T610  RAM: 16GB DDR3-1333  PSUs: 2x 570W  SSDs: 8GB Kingston Boot FD + 32GB Sandisk Cache SSD   HDDs: WD Red 4TB + Seagate 2TB + Seagate 320GB   OS: FreeNAS 11+

 

Laptop-

CPU: Intel i7-3520M   Model: Dell Latitude E6530   RAM: 8GB dual-channel DDR3-1600  GPU: Nvidia NVS 5200M   SSD: 240GB TeamGroup L5   HDD: WD Black 320GB   Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 26" 1920x1200   OS: Windows 10 Pro

Having issues with a Corsair AIO? Possible fix here:

Spoiler

Are you getting weird fan behavior, speed fluctuations, and/or other issues with Link?

Are you running AIDA64, HWinfo, CAM, or HWmonitor? (ASUS suite & other monitoring software often have the same issue.)

Corsair Link has problems with some monitoring software so you may have to change some settings to get them to work smoothly.

-For AIDA64: First make sure you have the newest update installed, then, go to Preferences>Stability and make sure the "Corsair Link sensor support" box is checked and make sure the "Asetek LC sensor support" box is UNchecked.

-For HWinfo: manually disable all monitoring of the AIO sensors/components.

-For others: Disable any monitoring of Corsair AIO sensors.

That should fix the fan issue for some Corsair AIOs (H80i GT/v2, H110i GTX/H115i, H100i GTX and others made by Asetek). The problem is bad coding in Link that fights for AIO control with other programs. You can test if this worked by setting the fan speed in Link to 100%, if it doesn't fluctuate you are set and can change the curve to whatever. If that doesn't work or you're still having other issues then you probably still have a monitoring software interfering with the AIO/Link communications, find what it is and disable it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
18 minutes ago, pyrojoe34 said:

Well I gave it a shot... it does not appear that ECC and non-ECC play nice together. No post... I guess I'm stuck using 16GB in single channel mode for the time being...

Makes sense but I've never tried it myself. Here's a quote from a Toms hardware forum i stumbled acroas that describes it better than I can 

 

Quote

Short answer: No. Even if they 'match up', it's not recommended.

Long answer: 
Unbuffered ECC might work with regular unbuffered, but it might not be stable. 
If it's fully buffered, it won't fit in the slot as the key notch is different. 
Registered and unbuffered have the same keying, but will not ever work together, because registered delays the output by one clock cycle by design (as you're talking to the memory through the register, whereas unbuffered talks directly to the memory). 
It's better to never mix memory types.

 

Fanboys are the worst thing to happen to the tech community World. Chief among them are Apple fanboys. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
49 minutes ago, AbsoluteFool said:

non-ECC will not work in the PowerEdge servers. You are stuck with 16GB Total.

The 8GB sticks are the non-ECC sticks, which he says is working...?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author
7 hours ago, AbsoluteFool said:

non-ECC will not work in the PowerEdge servers. You are stuck with 16GB Total.

6 hours ago, tHe Admirer said:

The 8GB sticks are the non-ECC sticks, which he says is working...?

Yup, the 2x8GB non-ECC works perfectly fine. So far I have noticed no issues or signs of instability (although it has only been a day... so we'll see).

 

I just can't combine the ECC and non-ECC (which makes sense, I was hoping the ECC would default to non-ECC and work anyway but no luck there). Maybe one day DDR3 prices will go down enough and I will switch back to ECC... since the system is non-mission critical (it's essentially a personal quaternary backup server and VM host for testing code before sending it to the actual compute rig), I'm not overly concerned with having the benefits of ECC.

Primary PC-

CPU: Intel i7-6800k @ 4.2-4.4Ghz   CPU COOLER: Bequiet Dark Rock Pro 4   MOBO: MSI X99A SLI Plus   RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX quad-channel DDR4-2800  GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 SC2 iCX   PSU: Corsair RM1000i   CASE: Corsair 750D Obsidian   SSDs: 500GB Samsung 960 Evo + 256GB Samsung 850 Pro   HDDs: Toshiba 3TB + Seagate 1TB   Monitors: Acer Predator XB271HUC 27" 2560x1440 (165Hz G-Sync)  +  LG 29UM57 29" 2560x1080   OS: Windows 10 Pro

Album

Other Systems:

Spoiler

Home HTPC/NAS-

CPU: AMD FX-8320 @ 4.4Ghz  MOBO: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3   RAM: 16GB dual-channel DDR3-1600  GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760 OC   PSU: Rosewill 750W   CASE: Antec Gaming One   SSD: 120GB PNY CS1311   HDDs: WD Red 3TB + WD 320GB   Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 26" 1920x1200 -or- Steam Link to Vizio M43C1 43" 4K TV  OS: Windows 10 Pro

 

Offsite NAS/VM Server-

CPU: 2x Xeon E5645 (12-core)  Model: Dell PowerEdge T610  RAM: 16GB DDR3-1333  PSUs: 2x 570W  SSDs: 8GB Kingston Boot FD + 32GB Sandisk Cache SSD   HDDs: WD Red 4TB + Seagate 2TB + Seagate 320GB   OS: FreeNAS 11+

 

Laptop-

CPU: Intel i7-3520M   Model: Dell Latitude E6530   RAM: 8GB dual-channel DDR3-1600  GPU: Nvidia NVS 5200M   SSD: 240GB TeamGroup L5   HDD: WD Black 320GB   Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2693HM 26" 1920x1200   OS: Windows 10 Pro

Having issues with a Corsair AIO? Possible fix here:

Spoiler

Are you getting weird fan behavior, speed fluctuations, and/or other issues with Link?

Are you running AIDA64, HWinfo, CAM, or HWmonitor? (ASUS suite & other monitoring software often have the same issue.)

Corsair Link has problems with some monitoring software so you may have to change some settings to get them to work smoothly.

-For AIDA64: First make sure you have the newest update installed, then, go to Preferences>Stability and make sure the "Corsair Link sensor support" box is checked and make sure the "Asetek LC sensor support" box is UNchecked.

-For HWinfo: manually disable all monitoring of the AIO sensors/components.

-For others: Disable any monitoring of Corsair AIO sensors.

That should fix the fan issue for some Corsair AIOs (H80i GT/v2, H110i GTX/H115i, H100i GTX and others made by Asetek). The problem is bad coding in Link that fights for AIO control with other programs. You can test if this worked by setting the fan speed in Link to 100%, if it doesn't fluctuate you are set and can change the curve to whatever. If that doesn't work or you're still having other issues then you probably still have a monitoring software interfering with the AIO/Link communications, find what it is and disable it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
On 11.4.2018 at 5:47 PM, pyrojoe34 said:

Yup, the 2x8GB non-ECC works perfectly fine. So far I have noticed no issues or signs of instability (although it has only been a day... so we'll see).

 

I just can't combine the ECC and non-ECC (which makes sense, I was hoping the ECC would default to non-ECC and work anyway but no luck there). Maybe one day DDR3 prices will go down enough and I will switch back to ECC... since the system is non-mission critical (it's essentially a personal quaternary backup server and VM host for testing code before sending it to the actual compute rig), I'm not overly concerned with having the benefits of ECC.

Yeah, that will be correct. I misunderstood in my previous comment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

On my dual CPU build I'm running

80gb of ECC DDR3

 

I have 32gb on one CPU, and 48gb on the other. Seems to run fine.

I'll soon get another set of 16gb to even it out.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Servers, NAS, and Home Lab

×