2 dual channel vs 1 quad channel and XMP on LGA1151

CarlBar · November 1, 2018

Looking over upgrade options, (still trying to decide if i want to commit), but a thought has occurred when looking at pricing. In general quad channel kits are more expensive than dual channel kits, (not helped by my choice of supplier not have the full range of products for most manufacturers :(), so if i wanted to populate all 4 slots it would be cheaper to go with 2 identical dual channel kits for a given amount of ram. But a google search is giving me conflicting answers for intel XMP functionality with this.

JohnDongus · November 1, 2018

A rule is that usually even if you buy 2 of the same ram sets that were made from the same factory on the same day it still might not be the same. Possibly i would go for single dual channel. But if you really want to populate all the slots then just get quad channel.

Brooksie359 · November 1, 2018

Just get 2 kits the.

iRileyx · November 1, 2018

Aslong as they're the same speed and timings they will be able to run as quad channel.

But just so you know, LGA 1151 doesn't support quad channel memory. You'd be running as 2 dual channels(channel A and B), which isn't the same.

But that also means that as long as the 2 sticks in each channel match, they will run as dual channel, so buying 2 kits and having them be slightly different(you still want same speed and timing) won't matter, so long as you pair the correct sticks to the correct slots.