Overclocking with 4 sticks in a dual channel mobo

Hi guys,

 

I just read this in another thread here and didn't want to hijack that thread and take it away from the OP so thought I'd post a new one:

 

... get a kit that is 2X16 (duel channel) as your CPU only supports dual channel. I said 2X16 if you want better overclocking if not you can go for 4X8 kit which still works in dual channel but overclocking would be a bit hard.

 

I'm very interested to read this as I wasn't aware that putting a 4 stick kit in a dual channel mobo makes overclocking more challenging.

 

I am currently progressing my build and I'm in a similar boat. My mobo/chipset is dual channel and I have 4 slots available (X570). As yet I have not yet selected my RAM so this is something I need to consider.

 

Ideally I would really like 64G, but this isn't available in a 2 stick kit (at least not from Corsair, with RGB, at the speeds I want, at my local supplier). I can live with 32G though so this isn't a showstopper.

 

I do want to be able to overclock and so I'm interested in any other thoughts on this.

It comes back to the thought that 4 sticks will put more strain on the CPU's memory controller over what 2 sticks will. It doesn't mean that overclocking is impossible, simply that it may be harder. I run 4 x 3200MHz 8GB Vengance Pro RGB and can get it up to 3600MHz @T1 on my 9900k with 1.42V. Instead, I chose to keep it at 3200MHz and tightened the timings down to CL14 @1T using 1.35V.

Yes, while the tenant the more modules is more difficult in general, I would take issue with the idea that 2x16 is automatically higher reaching than 4x8. 16GB modules are just coming into mainstream use and if you look at the kits available across all brands, you will not find a 2x16 4266C17 kit. That is not market preference. The 16GB module is more dense than the 4x8. It is more difficult to clock up. Additionally, you might even see worse R/Wr/Copy scores with say 2x16@3600 vs 4x8 at the same. Asus uses some memory trace tricks to enhance 4 module performance on dual channel boards. Regardless of what anyone else says, you need to find specific data for the X570 chipset/MB. AMD boards have been more finicky in the past and if it doesn't really like 16GB modules, you want to know before you buy.

Thanks for the feedback guys, that's very helpful. For me I think the 64G is more important than the overclocking ability. Realistically I will play with overclocking initially for a while, just as a learning exercise and for a bit of fun and then after a while this new machine will become my daily drive where I will want the 64G and won't play too much with overclocking anymore.

 

I briefly toyed with the idea of getting just 2 sticks initially and then adding 2 more later on when I wanted to upgrade, but I very quickly learned that's a bad idea so I think I'll bite the bullet and get the 4 x 16 right off the bat and then see what I can do with it overclocking-wise and not stress if its not much.

 

My local supplier only has one Corsair RGB 4x16 kit and that kit is NOT currently on the QVL for my mobo. In fact there are zero 64G Corsair kits on the QVL. I'm not too fussed about that though because I believe these QVLs aren't updated regularly. Ideally it would be nice to get a kit that is on this QVL, but I don't believe this should be a showstopper - others on here may well disagree with that :-) (Just to clarify that statement - I have only been looking at 3600 on the QVL as that's the speed I want to get, there may well be 64G kits on the QVL at other speeds, I haven't checked that yet)

Edited December 15, 2019 by Salsiccia