4 Sticks of ram slower than 2 on X48 boards?

[wijszman]

I've been thinking about buying a new X48 board (preferably a gigabyte). During my search for some nice ram (the ballistix were first on my list but I won't get them because crucial took them of the x38/x48 supported list) i found a comparison review on some new x48 boards.
In this review they also benched the overclocking capabilities (FSB and mem).

I was surprised to see that all boards except one had significantly slower dram data speeds when using 4 sticks of ram.
The test used DDR3 1600 ram, and with 4 sticks the gigabyte could only reach speeds of 1382mhz.

I won't be using DDR3 ram, so what i'd like to know is:
Is the max speed for 4 sticks limited to 1382 for memory as a whole or only for DDR3 ram? If so this is no problem for me since i will be running DDR2 at 1000 or 1050 at the most.

Check the review here (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/x48-motherboard-comparison,review-30367-26.html)

[benscoobert]

as far as im aware 4 sticks is always slower than 2 or nearly always

may be wrong but that's the impression I got

[wijszman]

ok, but is that a problem, i.e. will you notice a big difference when running 2x2gb instead of 4x2gb ?
It would be nice to have 8gb some day, but if it makes the system as a whole slower, what's the use :confused:

[GTengineer]

I've been thinking about buying a new X48 board (preferably a gigabyte). During my search for some nice ram (the ballistix were first on my list but I won't get them because crucial took them of the x38/x48 supported list) i found a comparison review on some new x48 boards.
In this review they also benched the overclocking capabilities (FSB and mem).

I was surprised to see that all boards except one had significantly slower dram data speeds when using 4 sticks of ram.
The test used DDR3 1600 ram, and with 4 sticks the gigabyte could only reach speeds of 1382mhz.

I won't be using DDR3 ram, so what i'd like to know is:
Is the max speed for 4 sticks limited to 1382 for memory as a whole or only for DDR3 ram? If so this is no problem for me since i will be running DDR2 at 1000 or 1050 at the most.

Check the review here (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/x48-motherboard-comparison,review-30367-26.html)

4 sticks are not slower than 2 sticks or RAM as long as they are still running dual channel. However it may just be more difficult for you board to overclock with 4 sticks. It doesn't mean they are "slower" per se. I am running 8GB (4x2GB) and there is no difference in performance between 2 and 4 sticks. The 4 sticks are also not holding back my oevrclock compared to when I use 2 sticks because my overclock is mainly cpu limited but it may become an issue with other cpus.

[jason4207]

When you are trying to take your rig to the ragged edge of stability then 4 sticks will definitely lower your maximum attainable mem/FSB clocks & timings, but for regular 24/7 OC's it doesn't really matter.

I have heard something about trying to run 4 sticks of DDR3 in the GB board, so that is probably where your concern is coming from. If your going the DDR2 route I wouldn't worry about it.

[wijszman]

Thanx for the replies!

The comparison i read used DDR3, and the speeds with 4 sticks were above 1350, so using DDR2 will not be a problem as i suspected :)