Running Dual Channel DDR3 RAM on ASUS Rampage 2 Extreme: is it possible?

[Harpwn]

Hey there,

I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'm running an i7 920, on an ASUS R2E mobo, which before a few days ago, had 6 gig of Corsair GT. Unfortunately, these were part of the bad batch that contained some chip that made the memory prone to higher failure rates. I was not aware of this when I bought the memory.

2 of the 3 DIMMs failed last weekend, leaving me with a paltry amount of memory. I am a CAD Operator, and this has significantly impacted on my work. I have a deadline in a few days, and I need to get some renders, but in order for them to be of a industry standard, I need my memory.

Is it possible, for me to purchase 8 gig of cheap DDR3 dual channel memory and run it successfully on a triple channel board, such as the R2E? This of course would be temporary, as once I get my new Dominator GT from Corsair RMA I'll switch back to them. But in the mean time, I need a quick fix of cheap memory, and a lot of it.

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[Ham]

It'll work yes.

Weather or not it'll run in dual channel I'm not 100% on but the real world difference between the three (single, dual, triple) is very, very, very small. So chucking the cheap memory in, even if it ran in single channel, would be preferable to suffering with an inferior volume.

 

[Harpwn]

Mate, your a hero. Thanks very much for that, have to do a trip to the city this afternoon then. Thanks again.

Kingston 4GB(2 X 2GB) DDR3-1333MHZ

Something like that should be fine, yes? I'll probably grab two of those, for 8 gig. Speeds are fine, volume is fine. Fingers crossed, this should be ok.

 

[smibripin]

Good work !

Very cool, looking great so far. Keep going, I wanna see it finished!

 

[Judderman]

Hey there,

I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'm running an i7 920, on an ASUS R2E mobo, which before a few days ago, had 6 gig of Corsair GT. Unfortunately, these were part of the bad batch that contained some chip that made the memory prone to higher failure rates. I was not aware of this when I bought the memory.

2 of the 3 DIMMs failed last weekend, leaving me with a paltry amount of memory. I am a CAD Operator, and this has significantly impacted on my work. I have a deadline in a few days, and I need to get some renders, but in order for them to be of a industry standard, I need my memory.

Is it possible, for me to purchase 8 gig of cheap DDR3 dual channel memory and run it successfully on a triple channel board, such as the R2E? This of course would be temporary, as once I get my new Dominator GT from Corsair RMA I'll switch back to them. But in the mean time, I need a quick fix of cheap memory, and a lot of it.

Thanks for your assistance.

Also doesnt Corsair memory come with a lifetime warranty, always used too!

Opps makes note to himself to read whole thread before answering!

 

[tinytomlogan]

Got to remember you can only use 1.65v on the ram with i7.

If you have normal 1.8/1.9v ddr3 you can not use it without risking killing the cpu.

 

[Harpwn]

Also doesnt Corsair memory come with a lifetime warranty, always used too!

Opps makes note to himself to read whole thread before answering!

Yeah, Corsair has an amazing return policy. But since I'm in Australia it takes a fair while for the process to close.

In relation to the RAM voltages, the memory I ended up purchasing is TWIN3X2048-1333C9DHX and is tested at 1.5v. As you mentioned, the mobo accomdates 1.65v RAM modules. Does using RAM that is below the recommended voltage increase the risk of CPU failure? Or will it just kill it straight up? Oh and just because the RAM says its tested at 1.5v, does that mean that 1.5v is the stock voltage, or is it under/over this amount?

Common sense tells me that as the voltage is under 1.65v, it should be fine, but perhaps result in a performance decrease?

Thanks again, you guys have some great knowledge.

 

[meticadpa]

1.5V is their stock voltage, which means you can up them to 1.65V if you need the extra voltage for overclocking or loosening the timings, for example.

 

[Pyr0]

just to add, i've used old ddr3 kits on my i7 with no problems in dual channel mode

they also needed less voltage on i7 than on x48 to run at similar speeds/timings

i don't worry about the 1.65v thing too

currently have my corsair kit in my sig running at 1.72v for 1810 8-8-8 (1.42v vtt)