Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4 Ram & CPU Cooler

[JohnSinclair]

Hey folks,

I want to build a X99 system with the Gigabyte UD4 MB, but I have two questions:
a) Does anyone know a 64GB DDR 4 Kit which is supported? I can't find one in the Gigabyte compatibility list. Additionally i read that you should buy the DDR4 together as a 64GB-kit and not just throw 2 32GB-Kits together due compatibility (of course I would use the same two kits..) -- can anyone confirm this? I read a lot of incompatibility issues with DDR4 and X99 boards and that makes me quite insecure...

At the moment I want to use this 32GB Kit: Corsair Vengeance LPX black DIMM Kit 32GB, DDR4-2666, CL16-18-18-35 (CMK32GX4M4A2666C16)
Edit: In the Gigabyte compatibility list this Kit is only Memory Socket 2 & 4 supported, can anyone tell my what this means? (http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-x99-ud4.pdf)

b) As CPU I want to use the i7-5820K and I'm looking for a CPU cooler. Initially I wanted to take the new Noctua nh-d15 but then I thought maybe the 14S or 12S are enough, especially because the 12S doesn't block one of the PCIe slots. Do you have any experience with one of the coolers in this setup? Initially I don't want to overclock, but later I probably will..

Thanks a lot for advice
John

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I doubt that my ratings and rank-order for certain air-coolers will inspire much contention or disagreement here, but if they do, I am well armed with multiple reviews and the simple transitional logic: "If A = B and if B=C, then A=C." There are additional axioms that follow, but they're easy to deduce.

Here's the skinny from the Duck[t]-Meister.

The D15 should perform about 3 to 4C better than the D14. The U14S is about a degree C or two behind the D14. The Hyper 212 EVO is about 5C worse than the D14.

The most unlikely candidate, which seemed to be marketed for its bling as much as anything, is the EVGA ACX Cooler, formerly known around mid-2011 as the EVGA SuperClock CPU cooler. The re-named model has a sibling, which is smaller and uses a smaller fan. But if you compare the design and specs of the SuperClock with the appropriate ACX, they are identical. In every way.

The ACX cooler performs better than a D14 by 6C additional reduction in CPU temperatures for a processor dissipating between 100 and 140W. My own tests included clock speeds with wattage of ~140.

Now. If you do a little research here and elsewhere, spend about $20 or stuff from Michael's Arts & Crafts or just find some old cardboard and glue because you "want to try it out," you can duct a heatpipe tower to the rear exhaust, obviating the need for a puller fan attached directly to the cooler. And you can't mount a puller fan on the ACX anyway, because of the blingy curves in the design of the cooler on that side. You can only mount a pusher fan in the traditional way.

This will result in approximately 5C improvement in load temperatures under my test-bed scenario. So you could make a 212 EVO with duct perform almost as well as a D14 without one. My measurements seemed to apply to a few of these coolers without too much deviation.

You could also make an ACX perform about 10C better in total than a D14 stock installation. Without ducting, it would be about 3C better than the D15 -- and certainly no worse. With ducting, better by maybe double. If you can make a cooler outperform a DUCTED D14, you would surpass the Hydro H110's performance by a few degrees. In the case of the ACX cooler, it could outperform a stock-installed H110 by at least 4C, maybe 5 or 6.

So when you look at the design of the EVGA cooler, you will see that there are other advantages over the D14, the D15 -- and even the NH-U14S. And none of those coolers performs as well as the EVGA ACX in tests excluding ducts and other enhancments (like beefier fans).

With that, you can do fairly well with any of the coolers mentioned here for an i7-5820K, with the caveat that over-clocking will show the limitations of the available heat-pipe air-coolers. You might get further in an over-clocking quest with an AiO cooler like the H240X.

To be honest, most of the overclocking reviews I've seen for the 5820K use something like an H100 cooler, and they show speeds of 4.5Ghz to be no exceptional challenge if you got a good chip in the lottery. But I also think you must be prepared to see temperatures from the mid-70s to mid-80s -- and then only if "you're doin' it right." You could probably squeeze another 5 to 10C out of low-tech, seemingly ridiculous approaches such as those I use.

In addition to the H240X, there is "custom water." You could also try something similar to WGusler's project for his i7-4790K using a C70 case and Hydro H80 AiO cooler.

In some of these approaches, you want a beefier fan which may be noisy at the top-end. But you want that sort of fan so you can use thermal control features and keep it quiet while assuring the CFM aiflow through radiator or tower-cooler.

 

[vailr]

This should work, but will be costing over $1,100 for 64 Gb:
32GB G.Skill Ripjaws 4 DDR4 2666MHz PC4-21300 CL15 Quad Channel kit (4x8GB)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N1OZGRE

See:
http://www.tweaktown.com/sbg/1/tweaktown-admiral-pc-unlimited-cost/index.html

 

[BonzaiDuck]

This should work, but will be costing over $1,100 for 64 Gb:
32GB G.Skill Ripjaws 4 DDR4 2666MHz PC4-21300 CL15 Quad Channel kit (4x8GB)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N1OZGRE

See:
http://www.tweaktown.com/sbg/1/tweaktown-admiral-pc-unlimited-cost/index.html

Nothing wrong at all with that. There's no reason not to use two identical 32GB kits. Especially, if they are G.SKILL.

As for compatibility -- and I haven't looked yet to see if there are 64GB kits available but let's just assume there are -- if the same model-line and code for 32GB can be found on the compatibility list or "configurator" link of either the mobo or RAM maker's web-site, any 64GB kit of that particular model code should be equally compatible. At least, this was a prudent rule-of thumb comparing 8GB and 16GB kits. Also, if the compatibility list had the same model-line but a lower speed, you'd be sure that the higher-speed model would also be fine.

 

[mindbomb]

i think most of the compatibility issues are from xmp automatically configuring things. I think you can still just manually put in the voltages,timings, clock speeds and avoid those issues, but I'm not sure.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

i think most of the compatibility issues are from xmp automatically configuring things. I think you can still just manually put in the voltages,timings, clock speeds and avoid those issues, but I'm not sure.

There may be uncertainty about XMP or other things since DDR4 is still fairly new -- doesn't seem likely but it's always possible.

I've been slow to learn and slow to keep up with some aspects of our general enthusiast focus. When I bought my first DDR3 RAM, I didn't fiddle with XMP and simply typed in the manual timings, voltage and speed selection.

Then I read some articles -- one from Anandtech -- about XMP. The myth about XMP is that it was created to make things easy for "noobs" who complained that their DDR3-1600 kit only ran at 1333. [They didn't think you had to do anything with the BIOS.] The fact about XMP: for some makes and models of RAM, XMP provides "aggressive" values for the advanced timings, and performs better that way at the margin.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

Hey folks,

I want to build a X99 system with the Gigabyte UD4 MB, but I have two questions:
a) Does anyone know a 64GB DDR 4 Kit which is supported? I can't find one in the Gigabyte compatibility list. Additionally i read that you should buy the DDR4 together as a 64GB-kit and not just throw 2 32GB-Kits together due compatibility (of course I would use the same two kits..) -- can anyone confirm this? I read a lot of incompatibility issues with DDR4 and X99 boards and that makes me quite insecure...

At the moment I want to use this 32GB Kit: Corsair Vengeance LPX black DIMM Kit 32GB, DDR4-2666, CL16-18-18-35 (CMK32GX4M4A2666C16)
Edit: In the Gigabyte compatibility list this Kit is only Memory Socket 2 & 4 supported, can anyone tell my what this means? (http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-x99-ud4.pdf)

b) As CPU I want to use the i7-5820K and I'm looking for a CPU cooler. Initially I wanted to take the new Noctua nh-d15 but then I thought maybe the 14S or 12S are enough, especially because the 12S doesn't block one of the PCIe slots. Do you have any experience with one of the coolers in this setup? Initially I don't want to overclock, but later I probably will..

Thanks a lot for advice
John

Can't you just buy memory on the list but smaller then 64GB? Like 2 sets of 32GB?