ASUS P8Z68-V LX Memory question

[zoolzoo]

I am confused on this subject no matter how many times I google it....

I am currently running an ASUS P8Z68-V LX with 2x4 (8 GB) of Kingston Hyper X Ram.

If I were to "upgrade" to 4x4 (16 GB) of Hyper X, is there any detrimental effects in contrast to using only 2 DIMMS?

Will I still have "dual channel" mode using 4 DIMMS with my mobo?


Thanks in advance,

Kevin

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I am confused on this subject no matter how many times I google it....

I am currently running an ASUS P8Z68-V LX with 2x4 (8 GB) of Kingston Hyper X Ram.

If I were to "upgrade" to 4x4 (16 GB) of Hyper X, is there any detrimental effects in contrast to using only 2 DIMMS?

Will I still have "dual channel" mode using 4 DIMMS with my mobo?


Thanks in advance,

Kevin

That board shouldn't be any different than the rest of the P8Z68 model-line as pertains to RAM. I have the -V Pro board, so I can advise from personal experience.

I don't use Kingston, but I won't "dis" them, either. In fact, the effects you want to anticipate may depend on the model and brand to some extent, but I can't tell you much in that regard.

I had a 2x4GB set of G.SKILL DDR3-1600 "-GBRL" Ripjaws, set to 9-9-9-24, 1T and the spec voltage of 1.50V. I added another 2x4GB ("-GBRL") with intention of overclocking them all to DDR3-1866, 10-10-10-28 1T. I didn't need to increase the voltage much; I arbitrarily set it to 1.52V but it could be slightly excessive.

But what I DID need to do was to increase the VCCIO voltage from its default (<=1.00V) to about 1.12V before extensive memory testing with HCI Memtest yielded 0 errors.

This should give you an idea of what a 4x4GB configuration would mean, although I can't be sure how it would apply to the HyperX. Conventionally, we assume that setting a 1T command-rate for a 2x4GB configuration is possible, while adding a second kit would make it necessary to run at 2T. And you can see that I was able to increase the stock speed to 1866 Mhz.

How this works with your particular motherboard and the Kingstons is something that you'll have to determine. You don't have to overclock the RAM; you shouldn't need to loosen the timings from their stock settings. You may have to adjust RAM voltage, and you might try adjusting VCCIO.

But you should make the voltage adjustments mindful of the processor spec (1.58+V), the RAM voltage spec, and the fact that VCCIO is supposed to be "safe" within 1.15 or 1.2V.

You may not have to adjust anything -- especially if you leave the command-rate set to 2T.

And you will still have "dual-channel" configuration. I can't think of anything "detrimental" -- to answer your question. A little more power consumption, perhaps?

 

[zoolzoo]

Thanks for this awesome response. I dont plan on ocing the ram, just shoving them in and making sure that all 4 are set to 1600 mhz. Will I need to mess with any voltage settings do you think?

That board shouldn't be any different than the rest of the P8Z68 model-line as pertains to RAM. I have the -V Pro board, so I can advise from personal experience.

I don't use Kingston, but I won't "dis" them, either. In fact, the effects you want to anticipate may depend on the model and brand to some extent, but I can't tell you much in that regard.

I had a 2x4GB set of G.SKILL DDR3-1600 "-GBRL" Ripjaws, set to 9-9-9-24, 1T and the spec voltage of 1.50V. I added another 2x4GB ("-GBRL") with intention of overclocking them all to DDR3-1866, 10-10-10-28 1T. I didn't need to increase the voltage much; I arbitrarily set it to 1.52V but it could be slightly excessive.

But what I DID need to do was to increase the VCCIO voltage from its default (<=1.00V) to about 1.12V before extensive memory testing with HCI Memtest yielded 0 errors.

This should give you an idea of what a 4x4GB configuration would mean, although I can't be sure how it would apply to the HyperX. Conventionally, we assume that setting a 1T command-rate for a 2x4GB configuration is possible, while adding a second kit would make it necessary to run at 2T. And you can see that I was able to increase the stock speed to 1866 Mhz.

How this works with your particular motherboard and the Kingstons is something that you'll have to determine. You don't have to overclock the RAM; you shouldn't need to loosen the timings from their stock settings. You may have to adjust RAM voltage, and you might try adjusting VCCIO.

But you should make the voltage adjustments mindful of the processor spec (1.58+V), the RAM voltage spec, and the fact that VCCIO is supposed to be "safe" within 1.15 or 1.2V.

You may not have to adjust anything -- especially if you leave the command-rate set to 2T.

And you will still have "dual-channel" configuration. I can't think of anything "detrimental" -- to answer your question. A little more power consumption, perhaps?