Need memory channel mythbuster !

[Exao]

Hello everyone !

 

I recently built my very first own gaming rig and I am already planning on a Memory upgrade: from a lonely 8Gb G.Skill Aegis 2400MHz stick to anything faster and 16Gb, but when I went looking around for something with 4 sticks (since i've got a shiny MSI Z370 SLI PLUS motherboard) and then remembered that "multi-channel" thing, so I made my researches, scavaging dead forum threads and old Quora topics but I could'nt find anything to build my trust on, so I've got numerous questions, easy ones for you guys I'm pretty sure !

 

The tough ones:

1. How faster is quad-channel than dual-channel ?
2. Can I buy today a 16Gb dual-channel kit and in a few years buy the exact same 16Gb dual-channel kit, stuff it in my mobo and expect it to run nice and cool ? (That's the information I need)
   1. If yes, will it run in quad-channel ?
   2. If no, what are the hazards ?

The less important ones:

1. Why are premium 2x8Gb Trident Z RGB kits around the same price as usualy-non-premium HyperX Fury 4x4Gb kits ?
2. Do you pour milk before or after cereals ?

 

I've been following the youtube channel for quite a long time, and yes I have watched this video while doing researches, but this was in 2013 and since i've heard a lot of contradictory stuff I'm wondering if things haven't changed nowadays... That's why i'm confused and need this awesome community's advices !

[wojtepanik]

Z370 doesnt support quad channel memory... 2 channels and 2 dimm slots per channel

 

You can add 16gb later 

 

Look at timing of the sticks, vendor, brand and marketing, hyper x is a premium brand after all...

[iRileyx]

1) Theoretically its quite a lot faster, but would you actually notice a difference in day-to-day use? no, probably not.

 

 

 

 

 

2) Yes you can stick in the exact same kit and it will work, but it won't run in quad channel, that's only supported with the X chipsets and a couple Xeon families, oh and Threadripper.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Both of the above posts are correct. Another I'd mention is, why not just grab another 8Gb stick of what you have and overclock? It would be cheaper than buying a whole new kit.

[stealth80]

Just buy 2x8gb 3000mhz ram sticks if you have the funds. You don't get quad channel on Z370, and theres very few scenarios where you need more than 16gb outside editing/programming 

 

 

[Exao]

5 minutes ago, wojtepanik said:

Z370 doesnt support quad channel memory

So that's the first thing I overlooked ! Thanks

 

3 minutes ago, RKRiley said:

Yes you can stick it in and it will work, but no it won't run in quad channel, that's only supported with the X chipsets and a couple Xeon families, oh and Threadripper.

Thanks to you too

 

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Why not just grab another 8Gb stick of what you have and overclock? It would be cheaper than buying a whole new kit.

Because I wanted a dual/quad-channel kit for specs, maybe I was wrong. Will definitely consider this too

 

Now that it is clear, what would happen if I stick in a quad-channel kit ? Run it in dual-channel ?

[iRileyx]

1 minute ago, Exao said:

So that's the first thing I overlooked ! Thanks

 

Thanks to you too

 

 

Now that it is clear, what would happen if I stick in a quad-channel kit ? Run it in dual-channel ?

Ram itself isn't single, dual or quad channel, whether it runs as any of them depends on the motherboard and which dimm slots are used.

 

If you put a "quad channel" set into a Z370 board, it'll just run as 2 dual channel... channels? sounds wrong saying that, not sure how else to phrase it though.

[wojtepanik]

1 minute ago, Exao said:

So that's the first thing I overlooked ! Thanks

 

Thanks to you too

 

 

Now that it is clear, what would happen if I stick in a quad-channel kit ? Run it in dual-channel ?

I think it doesn't matter from the ram itself in what config you run it, you can mix and match as you wish, just match speed and timings to get the highest possible

[agent_x007]

Well A Quad Channel kit and two Dual Channel kits have only one difference :
You pay more for packaging on the two Dual Channel kits.

"Quad Channel" requires X79/X99/X299/"X399", to run in Quad Channel.
Quad Channel memory in LGA115x socket will always run in Dual Channel.

^Quad Channel 16GB (4x4GB) vs. Dual Channel 16GB (2x8GB)

[stealth80]

3 minutes ago, Exao said:

Because I wanted a dual/quad-channel kit for specs, maybe I was wrong. Will definitely consider this too

 

Now that it is clear, what would happen if I stick in a quad-channel kit ? Run it in dual-channel ?

You wont get quad channel - don't confuse slots with channels. Most ATX quad channel motherboards have 8 dimms.

 

If you put a quad channel kit in a dual channel board, you will get dual channel bandwidth with the capacity of the 4 sticks. Put that same kit in an X299/X399 system and you get quad channel bandwidth. 

 

Z/H (intel) series, X370/X470,B350 (AMD) are all dual channel systems, some have 2 dimm slots some have 4 dimm slots - this just allows more capacity

 

X99, X299 (Intel), X399 (AMD) are all quad channel systems, normally with 8 dimm slots

 

There are other variants, aka 1366 Intel systems were triple channel with 3 or 6 dimm slots but they are 8 years old now 

[Exao]

4 minutes ago, stealth80 said:

You wont get quad channel - don't confuse slots with channels. Most ATX quad channel motherboards have 8 dimms.

 

If you put a quad channel kit in a dual channel board, you will get dual channel bandwidth with the capacity of the 4 sticks. Put that same kit in an X299/X399 system and you get quad channel bandwidth. 

 

Z/H (intel) series, X370/X470,B350 (AMD) are all dual channel systems, some have 2 dimm slots some have 4 dimm slots - this just allows more capacity

 

X99, X299 (Intel), X399 (AMD) are all quad channel systems, normally with 8 dimm slots

 

There are other variants, aka 1366 Intel systems were triple channel with 3 or 6 dimm slots but they are 8 years old now 

Looks like I've got a lot to gather information about, thanks

[asand1]

1 hour ago, Exao said:

So that's the first thing I overlooked ! Thanks

 

Thanks to you too

 

Because I wanted a dual/quad-channel kit for specs, maybe I was wrong. Will definitely consider this too

 

Now that it is clear, what would happen if I stick in a quad-channel kit ? Run it in dual-channel ?

Quad channel would be 8 sticks. Your mother board has dual channel (2x2).

[Exao]

3 hours ago, asand1 said:

Quad channel would be 8 sticks. Your mother board has dual channel (2x2).

Thanks for the information

I couldn't manage not to notice that you nerds know everything about memory, but how about cereals and milk uh ?

[asand1]

2 hours ago, Exao said:

Thanks for the information

I couldn't manage not to notice that you nerds know everything about memory, but how about cereals and milk uh ?

For the best quality you want post or Kellogg's. Bang for the buck is going to be Malt O' Meal bag cereals. I prefer 2% And Vitamin D milk, as 1% is too much like water.