Originally posted by: ShawnD1
Originally posted by: Arkaign
The vast majority of X58 boards support 24GB max (6 x 4GB Sticks). The popular Gigabyte X58 UD3R is limited to 16GB, but boards from Jetway (yuck), Foxconn (meh), Msi (decent), ASRock (bleh), DFI (hrm), ECS (BLAH), EVGA, Asus, and so on, all support the full 24GB of ram.
Companies have been saying their boards support this but that ram virtually doesn't exist and we've been waiting for several years now.
Newegg sells only 4 models of 4gb sticks (there are 74 models of 2gb), and the
only 4gb DD3 is $470. 24gb of DDR3 based on 6x4gb would cost $2820 just for the memory. Comparatively,
ECC DDR3 server memory is $45 for 2gb sticks, so it would only cost $540 for the same 24gb of it.
This is why you won't find a single person on all of Anandtech who owns 4gb memory sticks and this is why you don't estimate your max memory as slots x 4gb.
Yeah, the 4GB sticks are $$$ for now. DDR3 hasn't been out that long though in commercial distribution, so several years sounds like an exaggeration. AM3 and X58 mobos are still relatively recent. Remember that it took a little while for 1GB DDR1 sticks to appear, and when DDR2 hit, it took a while for 2GB sticks to appear. I clearly remember buying a 2GB (2x1GB) CL4 DDR2-800 kit from Newegg for almost $300 in 2006, and now 4GB sets of better ram are commonly $50 or less.
Once demand and production ramp up for DDR3, the prices will plummet extremely rapidly. Remember, many systems still ship with DDR2, and the *vast* majority of systems currently in use are DDR2 or older. In a couple of years, it will be like things are now, DDR1 will become like Sdram is now, DDR2 will start to become more scarce/pricey such as DDR1 is now, and DDR3 will be the de facto standard, with dirt cheap prices to match.
Core i7 launched in Oct '08, and AM3 launched Feb '09. The June '07 Bearlake P35 was pretty much a test run, and shouldn't really count, as there was almost zero incentive to manufacture much DDR3.
Mark my words, you'll see dramatically lower prices in 6 months, and lower still a year from now. This is why a board with full 24GB support makes sense to really be able to wring some extra juice out of in a year or two.