# 2Ch vs 4Ch RAM Gaming



## Viruzz (Sep 10, 2015)

Hi,
So i upgraded to x99 with 5820K, and got 2 separate Dual Channel 16Gb kits of Corsair Vengeance LPX 2666MHz (CMK16GX4M2A2666C16) ( so in total I have x4 sicks of 8Gb each)
For some reason one RAM channel out of 4 is kind of iffy, it only accepts RAM after 10-20 times I try, and then it can stop detecting the ram randomly after some days past or if the PC as disturbed)

Of course I can return the board for a new one, but I dont want to be left without a PC, anyway I have 3 years of warranty (yes its 3yrs not 5 over here, but  we dont have RMA system, you bring it back to the shop and they test it and give you refurbished one or a new one after 3-7 days)

I tried to re-seat the CPU didnt help, tested every memory stick and they all work in other channels

So what I was thinking is to use the system in Dual Channel mode, install x2 8gb sticks into one channel and 2 other memory sticks into the other channel.

tipple channel wont work because i have 4 sticks and they have to be of equal size in each channel??
(or they dont? Because the system boots in such castrated mode, with x2 sticks in one channel and one stick each in 2 other channels but im not sure it works in real triple channel mode)

I googled for 4 channel vs 2 channel benchmarks but didnt found nay gaming results, is there any actual FPS differences if I go to 2 channel route?


P.S. CPU-Z can see all 4 sticks of RAM.
BIOS SPD viewer can see al 4 BUT one stick of RAM has no memory value (like where it says that your stick is 8GB or 4Gb or whatever it says nothing)

Also i found a treat that lots of ASUS X99 mobos have the same issue

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2337139/ram-fully-detected.html


Thanks


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## Solaris17 (Sep 10, 2015)

yeah bro totally like 30FPS j/k

It helps alot in bandwidth intensive programs like simulations maybe but nothing noticable in games at all.


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## Viruzz (Sep 10, 2015)

Solaris17 said:


> yeah bro totally like 30FPS



LOL. lets be realistic, 10FPS? if its less then 5FPS then its nothing



Solaris17 said:


> yeah bro totally like 30FPS j/k
> 
> It helps alot in bandwidth intensive programs like simulations maybe but nothing noticable in games at all.




I dont use any programs, I game, browse and download and i might burn a bluray here and there and convert audiobooks


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## buildzoid (Sep 10, 2015)

It makes like 0.5% difference to FPS or even less if your game is heavily GPU based.


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## arbiter (Sep 10, 2015)

In games dual channel vs quad will make no difference. As guy stated above it will only help in programs that really use it, where as games don't.


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## johnspack (Sep 10, 2015)

Multi channel ram is difficult to run at best.  I actually have 3 sticks in triple channel mode,  and 1 stick in single.  Doesn't impact performance at all.  I think though if you use all four banks,  you're stuck with quad channel.  I have 6 banks,  so I can mix and match....  also I know if I use dissimilar size sticks,  like a 1 and a 2gb stick,  it will map 2 gigs to dual channel,  and 1 gig to single.  Not sure what x99 does with that though.


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## FreedomEclipse (Sep 10, 2015)

Quad Channel is ever so slightly better for Multi-GPU setups due to the constant mass of traffic that needs to run through the system. It helps but not by a huge amount


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## RejZoR (Sep 10, 2015)

Bigger/more is ALWAYS better. It just is. If I'd want dual channel I'd get Z170 instead of X99. If I'd want dual channel I'd get P55 back then instead of X58. Maybe there aren't many benefits now, but if you plan on having such platform for longer time, it'll simply hold beter because the bandwidth of 4 channels compensates the lack of speed of individual RAM stick. It's hard to say for how much, but if you don't want to have any bottlenecks, it's just better.

Btw, Sabertooth X99 is officially only rated up to 2400MHz DDR4 RAM. You may clock it higher, but no one will guarantee you proper functionality. That's why I've gone safe and sticked with the maximum. I'm getting the system today if all goes well, I hope I was smart by sticking with the official data and not going crazy with high clocked RAM.

Try downclocking it to 2400MHz, also, have you tried MemOK button? I think Sabertooth X99 has it (it just doesn't have Start/Reset buttons). Also try to shuffle RAM sticks. I found out on my X58 that combining Dominator and Ballistix RAM in wrong arrangement makes system unstable. But if I change their position, all is well. Like this...

DIMM1 Dominator
DIMM2 Ballistix

DIMM3 Dominator
DIMM4 Ballistix

DIMM5 Dominator
DIMM6 Ballistix

to this...

DIMM1 Ballistix
DIMM2 Dominator

DIMM3 Ballistix
DIMM4 Dominator

DIMM5 Ballistix
DIMM6 Dominator

Everything was fine! Even without any usage of MemOK button where first arrangement strictly required it. Quite weird...


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## Viruzz (Sep 10, 2015)

RejZoR said:


> Bigger/more is ALWAYS better. It just is. If I'd want dual channel I'd get Z170 instead of X99. If I'd want dual channel I'd get P55 back then instead of X58. Maybe there aren't many benefits now, but if you plan on having such platform for longer time, it'll simply hold beter because the bandwidth of 4 channels compensates the lack of speed of individual RAM stick. It's hard to say for how much, but if you don't want to have any bottlenecks, it's just better.
> 
> Btw, Sabertooth X99 is officially only rated up to 2400MHz DDR4 RAM. You may clock it higher, but no one will guarantee you proper functionality. That's why I've gone safe and sticked with the maximum. I'm getting the system today if all goes well, I hope I was smart by sticking with the official data and not going crazy with high clocked RAM.
> 
> ...




Actually with latest Bios Sabertooth has Bios RAM profiles for up 4000Mhz RAM.

I tried lowering the RAM to its default setting it doeasnt help.
If you open this link youll see lots of People with Asus X99 motehrboards have this issue

The strange part is that in software i can see 4 stick of ram, but both bios and windows have 24Gb usable.


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## RejZoR (Sep 10, 2015)

Have you tried shuffling them around or using MemOK button? I've had similar problems with my X58 when I mixed two different types of RAM sticks (you have them from same vendor, but different batches so...). This fixed it. MemOK partially, swapping them entirely.


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## Solaris17 (Sep 10, 2015)

Viruzz said:


> Actually with latest Bios Sabertooth has Bios RAM profiles for up 4000Mhz RAM.
> 
> I tried lowering the RAM to its default setting it doeasnt help.
> If you open this link youll see lots of People with Asus X99 motehrboards have this issue
> ...



Thats a whole other issue. You asked if you would s3e4e a difference in gaming in quad channel mode. You will not. The system not detecting all your ram is a different problem.


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## Viruzz (Sep 12, 2015)

Solaris17 said:


> Thats a whole other issue. You asked if you would s3e4e a difference in gaming in quad channel mode. You will not. The system not detecting all your ram is a different problem.



Thats why I asked, because the system sees all my RAM in Dual Channel or "Triple" channel, just not in quad.
Well I benchmarked and apparently you CAN use a non-standard Triple Channel mode: 8/8/16
First i installed the ram in Dual channel mode, 2 stick per channel, 32Gb total and run memtests in AIDA, then I installed, 1st Ch 8Gb, 2nd Ch 8Gb and 3rd Ch 16GB (x2 8Gb sticks)
So in theory it shouldn't work as triple channel, and should revert back to dual, but the benchmarks say otherwise, windows sees all 32Gb of RAM and im happy until i sort the issue and if i wont,well im ok with the way it is now, based on AIDAs default 5820K DDR4 scores, my non-standart triple channel sometimes beats the default Quad Channel scores. So I wont be loosing any FPS in games.

Memory Read:  Dual=39576/Tri=*47717 *(AIDA 5820K Default for Quad Channel 2133Mhz DDR4 = 42431MB/s)
Memory Write: Dual=23993/Tri=35202 (AIDA 5820K Default for Quad Channel 2133Mhz DDR4 = *45249*MB/s)
Memory Copy: Dual=35696/Tri=*49834 *(AIDA 5820K Default for Quad Channel 2133Mhz DDR4 = 44987MB/s)
Memory Latency: Dual=76.7ns/Tri=76.8ns (AIDA 5820K Default for Quad Channel 2133Mhz DDR4 = *74.4ns*)


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## Woomack (Sep 15, 2015)

This is actually common issue with new boards, especially X99. I had problems with 2 or 3 channel on 3 boards ( ASRock, MSI and ASUS ). I can make it work after switching memory or changing some settings so it's not that bad. If board can't see memory at all then I would make RMA.

Problems are mainly with CPU sockets or something on the way between CPU and memory. On Z87/97 boards support was often replacing CPU sockets when board had problems to see memory. I actually made couple of RMA for the same issues with memory. ASUS is not even asking about anything when you make RMA for ROG motherboard.


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## RejZoR (Sep 15, 2015)

Hm, I have 32GB of DDR4 (4x8GB) in my Sabertooth X99 and they are detected perfectly. I'm using XMP profile with manually slected 1T rate. No issues.


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## Viruzz (Sep 15, 2015)

RejZoR said:


> Hm, I have 32GB of DDR4 (4x8GB) in my Sabertooth X99 and they are detected perfectly. I'm using XMP profile with manually slected 1T rate. No issues.



Whats your voltage for 4.5Ghz? So far I used 1.3V and passed 2 hours of AIDA stress test. my temps were like 68C on some cores, highest one was 72C
Should I try to increase the clock with same voltage or keep the clock and reduce voltage?


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## Jstn7477 (Sep 15, 2015)

I found that my 5820K only supports up to about 2500MHz with 4x4GB Ripjaws 4 2800MHz sticks, have you tried at 2133MHz with four sticks?


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## Viruzz (Sep 15, 2015)

Jstn7477 said:


> I found that my 5820K only supports up to about 2500MHz with 4x4GB Ripjaws 4 2800MHz sticks, have you tried at 2133MHz with four sticks?



Yep, tried all default settings, tried increasing the ram 1.35V , decreasing System agent voltage (every solution i found online)


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## RejZoR (Sep 15, 2015)

Many X99 and even some Z170 systems have issues with higher clocked DDR4 modules. Duno what's the trick. Mine is fine running at 2400MHz. This was specified for Sabertooth X99 so I sticked with it even though you can technically use higher clocked RAM. Seeing how little difference it makes, 2400MHz actually creates the highest boost before it starts to decline and fluctuate. RAM is running with predefined XMP profile and it's 15-15-15-35 1T at 1.2V.

I'm running my 5820K @ 4.5 GHz using just 1.150V (Adaptive offset +200mV and LLC1). Haven't torture tested it for hours, but if it doesn't crash/lockup after 10 minutes of Prime95/OCCT/Linpack and no crashes during hours of gaming, I'm fine with it. Played like 6 hours of Killing Floor 2 with such overclock and it was smooth as butter.


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## Viruzz (Sep 15, 2015)

RejZoR said:


> Many X99 and even some Z170 systems have issues with higher clocked DDR4 modules. Duno what's the trick. Mine is fine running at 2400MHz. This was specified for Sabertooth X99 so I sticked with it even though you can technically use higher clocked RAM. Seeing how little difference it makes, 2400MHz actually creates the highest boost before it starts to decline and fluctuate. RAM is running with predefined XMP profile and it's 15-15-15-35 1T at 1.2V.
> 
> I'm running my 5820K @ 4.5 GHz using just 1.150V (Adaptive offset +200mV and LLC1). Haven't torture tested it for hours, but if it doesn't crash/lockup after 10 minutes of Prime95/OCCT/Linpack and no crashes during hours of gaming, I'm fine with it. Played like 6 hours of Killing Floor 2 with such overclock and it was smooth as butter.



LLC1?? You mean Load Line calibration? Why 1? I used 8, info says the higher the better

Whats your temps?


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## RejZoR (Sep 15, 2015)

Cadaveca (TPU's tester) said something about actually being better to not use LLC for overclocking if possible. To be honest, I'm not really experiencing any issues even with it disabled at Level 1. So I'm sticking with that.

I think LLC is only needed for really extreme overclocks, potentially under LN or DICE where electrical conditions change drastically.


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## kn00tcn (Sep 15, 2015)

more (or too much) LLC certainly isnt better http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/24019-load-line-calibration-why-overclockers-should-care/

personally i had more instability with LLC back in the q9550 days, so did anand


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## Viruzz (Sep 15, 2015)

kn00tcn said:


> more (or too much) LLC certainly isnt better http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/24019-load-line-calibration-why-overclockers-should-care/
> 
> personally i had more instability with LLC back in the q9550 days, so did anand




I base my overclock on Asus "official" recommended settings from this video, I just copy paste what he did, it still same setting even thou this P67 is 4 generation behind.









The dude got 2600K to 5.2Ghz on AIR with thees settings.


P.S. That article says that "LLC no longer affects vcore stability in Haswell or Devil's Canyon processors, as all the voltage regulation happens on the cpu.  LLC only affects Vin (the voltage supplied to the cpu as a whole)"
Its incorrect at least on X99 board, there are setting to disable the CPU voltage regulator and do it by the board, that's what they recommend for overclocking.


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## Aquinus (Sep 15, 2015)

kn00tcn said:


> more (or too much) LLC certainly isnt better http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/24019-load-line-calibration-why-overclockers-should-care/
> 
> personally i had more instability with LLC back in the q9550 days, so did anand


This is a decent article as well IMHO: http://www.masterslair.com/vdroop-and-load-line-calibration-is-vdroop-really-bad
It's based off off an anandtech article from C2Q days. I think it explains LLC pretty well. The better the power delivery system, the less it is a problem though.


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## Viruzz (Sep 15, 2015)

I have another issue.
The only way the board allows me to overclock is through Turbo Boost multiplayer.
If I disable turbo boost in bios and then change the multiplayer, it automatically turns on the turbo boost and chnages the multiplayer that I set to TurboBoost
Then after i boot windows and start stress testing my CPU only goes to 3400MHz (But the BIOS says that my Turbo Boost is 4500Mhz)
If I disable Intel Speed Sped then it stays on 4500Mhz and doeanst under clock on low load

Only once I manged to boot the PC and get proper overclock like it should be that throttles down and then turbo boost on high load to 4.5Ghz

Any ideas?


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## cadaveca (Sep 15, 2015)

Viruzz said:


> I have another issue.
> The only way the board allows me to overclock is through Turbo Boost multiplayer.
> If I disable turbo boost in bios and then change the multiplayer, it automatically turns on the turbo boost and chnages the multiplayer that I set to TurboBoost
> Then after i boot windows and start stress testing my CPU only goes to 3400MHz
> ...


The only way to OC is with Turbo Boost. That is how it works. You can disable turbo if increasing bclk, but otherwise, the only way to enable higher multipliers is through turbo. It requires the Turbo Power State to be enabled for the CPU to support them, or in other words, it is by design. You should not really be disabling any power saving features, either. Current Intel chips are more than ready to OC simply by changing voltage and multiplier alone.


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## Viruzz (Sep 15, 2015)

cadaveca said:


> The only way to OC is with Turbo Boost. That is how it works.



I remember with my 2600K i could do it both ways, well it doesn't matter.

Do you know why even under stress test the CPU wont go higher 3400Mhz? I checked my windows power settings just in case and set them to 100%


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## cadaveca (Sep 15, 2015)

reset BIOS, try changing settings again.


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## Viruzz (Sep 15, 2015)

cadaveca said:


> reset BIOS, try changing settings again.



Ok, ill do reset and try just changing MP and Voltage to 1.3 and see if it works, wont touch any other settings


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