# use triple channel memory as dual channel?



## PopcornMachine (Nov 4, 2011)

Just wondering if putting 2 sticks of tripple channel RAM in a P67 or Z68 motherboard, for example, would work.

I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, but wanted to know if some knew for sure.  

Thanks.


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## N-Gen (Nov 4, 2011)

Apparently yes. I've read someone saying you can use all 3 sticks, 2 will run in dual, odd one will run in single channel.


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## sneekypeet (Nov 4, 2011)

yup, no issues.

Single channel, dual, triple, and now quad is all about just binning the ICs so that all 2,3,or 4 sticks will run well together.


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## PopcornMachine (Nov 4, 2011)

Thanks for the quick info guys.


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## tomba2k (Nov 5, 2011)

N-Gen said:


> Apparently yes. I've read someone saying you can use all 3 sticks, 2 will run in dual, odd one will run in single channel.


sry, but don't see how this make sense - on tipple channel, you can have single, dual, and triple channel, but not single and dual channel at the same time:S

anyway, two same DDR3 sticks work normally in dual channel on DDR3 board AFAIK.


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## N-Gen (Nov 5, 2011)

tomba2k said:


> sry, but don't see how this make sense - on tipple channel, you can have single, dual, and triple channel, but not single and dual channel at the same time:S
> 
> anyway, two same DDR3 sticks work normally in dual channel on DDR3 board AFAIK.



Whoever said that was referring to running 3 sticks on a board that supports dual channel.


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## tomba2k (Nov 5, 2011)

sorry, didnt understood question fully.
anyway, RAM ISN'T DUAL or TRIPLE channel, RAM is RAM!
only board or cpu can have dual or triple memory controller.
so, use any ddr ram on any ddr board that support that module's speed and type (ddr2/3, ecc/non-ecc).



N-Gen said:


> Apparently yes. I've read someone saying you can use all 3 sticks, 2 will run in dual, odd one will run in single channel.





N-Gen said:


> Whoever said that was referring to running 3 sticks on a board that supports dual channel.



either way, you cant run any number on any modules on any ram simultaneously in single and dual and/or triple channel.

if you have modules to qualify for triple channel, your are running on triple channel.
if not, -II-, on double channel.
if not, -II-, on single channel.
*so, all modules on same board are running on same channel type!*
no single channel and double, or single and triple, or double and triple channel combo is possible on normal board.



			
				muddocktor @ icrontic.com said:
			
		

> ...All dual channel memory is just tested to run in dual channel mode at it's rated speed and timings. You can also buy the very same sticks separately and have a very good chance they will run like that too, especially if they are from the same batch number...


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## N-Gen (Nov 5, 2011)

In that case you'd be losing the motherboards dual channel with 3 sticks, since you'd need an even number of sticks to be running in dual channel.


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## 95Viper (Nov 5, 2011)

tomba2k said:


> either way, you cant run any number on any modules on any ram simultaneously in single and dual and/or triple channel.





tomba2k said:


> no single channel and double, or single and triple, or double and triple channel combo is possible on normal board.



Yes, you can run dual and single channel at the same time on some intel chipsets...  It is called flex mode.
Some motherboard manuals show how to populate the slots to do this.
Screen shot from my Gigabyte x48 manual explaining a little on flex mode:



Read here> Intel flex mode


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## tomba2k (Nov 5, 2011)

from what i see, flex mode enables various size ram modules to be using multi-channel mode in way that multi-channel mode is available on every module as amount of memory on smallest one in system, but it still doesn't enable to:


N-Gen said:


> ...you can use all 3 sticks, 2 will run in dual, odd one will run in single channel.


so, if you use odd number of modules on dual-channel board, you still get only single channel on all of them. better to use only 2 of them.


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## micropage7 (Nov 6, 2011)

of course it will run, i bought triple channel ram for my AMD rig that use dual channel, and from cpuz it read dual channel is on,
so basically its ok but if you wanna use it to the max you should run 4 ram in same spec


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