FEChariot Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 I have just ordered the following system from Newegg and now I am second guessing some things. The motherboard is the Asus P8Z77-V but newegg game me a free 8GB stick too. That stick is CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10. I then ordered two more sticks of the same memory (CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10). This is using the 3770K CPU. My questions are as follows. These are not on the QVL from either Asus or Corsair. Is this a problem? I have been told its not a big deal but was looking for the word from the horses mouth. Second. How will using three sticks work? Will it work at all? I am guessing the 2 matched sticks will work in dual channel and the other will work in single. Should I buy another 8gig stick for 4x8? Is there any benefit of using 3x8 over 2x8? I would never have bought 3 sticks but getting one for free is putting me in this situation. I do a lot of photoshop editing so I was thinking the extra 8GB would be helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 My questions are as follows. These are not on the QVL from either Asus or Corsair. Is this a problem? I have been told its not a big deal but was looking for the word from the horses mouth. The Vengance series is compatible aand thats not a problem. However using your new kit with your other single stick may be. You don't want to run an odd amount of sticks on that board anyway. Either two or four. The problem with using multiple kits or odd sticks is that there is no way to predict how any two random kit's/psticks will react with each other. So they can in fact be incompatible with each other. Your are much better off just using the new sticks. And if you need more than the 16 gig's it would be best to return your new kit for a matched 32 gig kit to fill all four slots. econd. How will using three sticks work? Will it work at all? I am guessing the 2 matched sticks will work in dual channel and the other will work in single. Should I buy another 8gig stick for 4x8? Is there any benefit of using 3x8 over 2x8? No one can really tell you. It may or may not work. If it does it may still run in dual channel and just add the third stick to the total capacity. Most MB's will go into a less than ideal hybrid mode when running an odd number of sticks. You really could be setting your self up for problems if the two sets don't work. It can cause system instability and there is always the possibility of data loss with memory problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FEChariot Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 Sounds like that free 8gb stick is going to be worth exactly what I paid for it then. I really think that 16gb total will be enough, but I like the idea of being able to add a second matched pair of 2X8s in the future. Or am I thinking in dinosaur mode? The last build I did was 12 years ago when there wasn't any matched memory around. Will I need to scrap everything and go from 2X8 to a whole new set of matched 4x8gb if I do want to upgrade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Sounds like that free 8gb stick is going to be worth exactly what I paid for it then. I really think that 16gb total will be enough, but I like the idea of being able to add a second matched pair of 2X8s in the future. Or am I thinking in dinosaur mode? The problem with using multiple kits or odd sticks is that there is no way to predict how any two random kit's/psticks will react with each other. You can try what you like but Corsair does not suggest or support mixing kits even if they are the same part number. Adding a second kit was a practice that started years ago when you could use just about any memory and it would work. But witht eh new CPU's having the memory controller in the CPU itself it is very important to have all your memory come from one single matched kit. So if you are planning on ending up with 32 gig total, then it would be best to just get a 32 gig kit now instead of trying to add a second kit later. I have seen those bundle deals where they include just one stick of memory , which is beyond me. That makes your system run in single channel mode and cuts your memory performance in half roughly. They should include a 2x4 kit if they really wanted you to have a complete working system that takes advantage of the boards features. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FEChariot Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 Thanks for the reply Peanutz. You are just confirming what my gut was telling me. Oddly the Asus QVL for the P8Z77-V lists a few 3X 2gb options - Which makes no sense. Even weirder is they list a 6 x 2gb option when there is only 4 dimm slots. WTH? http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/P8Z77-V/P8Z77-V_QVL.pdf I am going to just set up the computer when it all comes in (Tuesday UPS delivery) with just the 2X8gb sticks. Once I get everything set up and tuned, I'll run a benchmark test on it. Then for fun throw in the extra stick and see what happens. Run a benchmark on that setup too if I can even boot to windows. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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