X58 Triple Channel

R

rsgunter

[H]ard|Gawd
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My mobo is on it's last leg, so I've decided I'm gonna run crippled until the X58 boards come out in a couple of weeks (wk 40-44 is what I hear?) and go ahead and get the Nehelam chipset.

The X58s have 6 DIMM slots to run triple channel. I've yet to see, or hear of memory companies have sets with three sticks. So what is a person to do? Just buy 3 separate sticks? My fear is they won't be matched and that could cause a problem yeah?

Or can these boards do dual or triple? There isn't a lot of info, so I'm wondering if any of you know.

And....go!
 
When X58 motherboards and Core i7 chips start coming out, I'm sure 3 stick memory kits will start to come out. DDR3 prices should also drop around this time too.

If you want to buy it now, you could also buy a 2 stick kit, and buy 1 separate stick.

From what I hear, nehalem will only run the memory at 800 and 1066MHz. So unless you'll be able to OC on these new boards, you will not need to waste your time with expensive faster memory.
 
colinstu said:
From what I hear, nehalem will only run the memory at 800 and 1066MHz. So unless you'll be able to OC on these new boards, you will not need to waste your time with expensive faster memory.
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Really? Interesting for sure. I'm sure more info will come up before the release, but I'm trying to do some financial planning.

Any more info?
 
3x2 = 6 ... Buy 3 sets of 2x1G

May be $$ but if you are going i7 when it's released, expect to spend a bit more.
 
colinstu said:
When X58 motherboards and Core i7 chips start coming out, I'm sure 3 stick memory kits will start to come out. DDR3 prices should also drop around this time too.

If you want to buy it now, you could also buy a 2 stick kit, and buy 1 separate stick.

From what I hear, nehalem will only run the memory at 800 and 1066MHz. So unless you'll be able to OC on these new boards, you will not need to waste your time with expensive faster memory.
Click to expand...
Well you are correct to an extent about 800 and 1066. Motherboard manufacturers will have motherboards capable of supporting much higher memory speeds than that just like with current enthusiast motherboards. The gains should be right in line with what you currently see for the most part. Of course having faster memory will be a little better with the Nehalem because of the memory controller on the chip.
 
I would just run dual-channel. It's fast enough and that's not going to change when nehalem is available. You can always upgrade later when 3x DIMM packages are common and affordable.
 
+ 1 to above.

Nehalem supports both dual and triple channel.

And the benefits of triple over dual are really small.

I would just stay with dual as it is cheaper.

Eventually, you could just upgrade to triple channel if you really felt the need.
 
Salavat23 said:
+ 1 to above.
Nehalem supports both dual and triple channel.
And the benefits of triple over dual are really small.
I would just stay with dual as it is cheaper.
Eventually, you could just upgrade to triple channel if you really felt the need.
Click to expand...

Sure, but the X58 will only support triple channel configs... The OP will have to wait until next year until a P58ish chipset comes out for anything less.
 
From http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fe...first_nehalem_system_dont_tell_intel?page=0,1 :
To find out, we convinced one of our hardware contacts (who’ll remain unnamed) to let us into its lab so we could finally get our hands on the new chip. There, we were provided with the desktop version of Nehalem – called Bloomfield – and an Intel D58XSO “Smackover” board.

[...]

This board has 4 DIMM slots on three channels. Slots 3 and 4 share a channel. We tested memory benchmarks on single, dual, and triple channel configurations with Corsair DDR3 1333 memory.

[...]

The best performance bump was going from single to dual-channel but going from dual to triple didn’t seem to pay the same dividends. Remember, the caveat here is that more performance is likely to come as BIOS and board makers tweak for the new chip and RAM vendors tweak their SPDs. Our test, in fact, was with the DDR3 at 1333 speeds. At higher speeds of 1600, 1800 or higher, the tri-channel may pay off.
Click to expand...
 
SharpieFiend said:
Sure, but the X58 will only support triple channel configs... The OP will have to wait until next year until a P58ish chipset comes out for anything less.
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No it wont. It will support both triple channel and dual channel. X58 will have two support modes.
 
SharpieFiend said:
Read and learn... I do concede on the X58 thing - it does depend on which version of Nehalem you buy - however the version at launch will only be triple channel, which I believe is what applies to the OP.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3382&p=11
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Note that the article quoted above is the same X58 "Smackover" in all three configs. The board supports "up to triple channel," just as all chipsets between 865 and now have been dual channel chipsets that would work just as readily with only one channel enabled (single stick, or mix-and-match). Triple channel boards will work with however many channels are actually utilized.
 
mavalpha said:
Note that the article quoted above is the same X58 "Smackover" in all three configs. The board supports "up to triple channel," just as all chipsets between 865 and now have been dual channel chipsets that would work just as readily with only one channel enabled (single stick, or mix-and-match). Triple channel boards will work with however many channels are actually utilized.
Click to expand...

Integrated memory controller = X58 chipset doesn't handle memory... I stood corrected by Anandtech as it's actually the model of the CPU that handles dual/triple channel memory, not the chipset.

You need to learn how dual channel memory works before you say such things. Sure you can stick as many/different modules in as you want, but you need a matching pair installed in the proper slots to achieve maximum performance.
 
First we need to read & learn, meanwhile the link you posted to support your tri-channel-only theory just disproved it. Then you have the audacity to tell us that we should learn how multi-channel memory works because of your misunderstanding. Perhaps you should work on your reading comprehension before condescending others.
 
Most of the questions in this thread are covered by NDA which means I cannot comment. But, rest assured that your favorite memory companies will have suitable kits available at the launch. :cool:
 
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