9 gigs of ram for i7?

[chewbroccoli]

Hi,

I currently have 3 gigs of OZC gold DDR3 1600 ram. I've got a core i7 920 and an asus rampage II motherboard. When I bought it the 6 gig kits were way out of my price range but they've come down a bit and I was wondering if I can put a 6 gig kit in along with my 3 gig kit? I'm not sure how memory channels work so I don't know if this is feasible or not.

Also I'd want to put more DDR3 1600 ram in but the QVL for the rampage says that DDR3 1600 is only supported in the blue slots. would the DDR3 1600 just not work in those slots or would it just run slower?

thanks

 

[PeterStoba]

12GB shows really, really small benefit over 6GB so I imagine 9GB wouldn't be noticable. Sell the 3GB and keep the 6 would be my advice.

 

[zak4994]

Agree with Stoba.

Read this article for more information.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/memory/3gb_6gb_or_12gb_investigated/1

 

[Rastalovich]

Unless ofc there is a real workstation requirement for capacity>performance.

 

[k4p84]

seems 6 is the sweet spot for i7 for best household performance. Any more and that is e-peen territory

 

[chewbroccoli]

thanks,

right now 6gig kits are pretty well the same price as 3gig kits at the store closest to me. I don't have a 6gig kit yet. would I be better off running 2 3gig kits? i'd rather get the 6gig kit since it's more ram/$. I don't know how i feel about selling the 3gig kit I have. would there be a disadvantage to just putting the 3gig kit in the secondary slots and runnig 9gigs? or is it just a waste of money basically?

 

[Lynx]

Well if you said the 6gigs are close to the price of the 3gigs, then buy a 6gig, try running 9 gigs, if it dont work sell the 3.

 

[chewbroccoli]

thanks,

I ended up buying the 6 gig kit and putting it in the primary slots and moving the 3 gigs to the secondary slots. it's all DDR3 1600 and runs fine. certainly runs much smoother than 3 gigs, don't know how much different than 6 though.