Ram choice help

[Tamaziuk]

I have a ASUS Rampage III Extreme mobo. Currently I have 3x2gb ram and i want to upgrade. I found two rams which im interested in getting but can't decide which one would be better

The first Ram is 6x4gb:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231359
(Price: $124.99)

The second Ram is 8gbs but I would buy 3:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...el_F3-14900CL10S-8GBXL-_-20-231-527-_-Product
(Price of Three: $107.97)

Would it be better to have the 6x4gb or the 3x8gb?

 

[mimart7]

No need to fill all of your ram slots. If you plan on doing any overclocking, get the three sticks.

 

[Woomack]

Both options aren't best idea. X58 wasn't designed to support 4GB modules, not to mention 8GB. 4GB modules were added some months after premiere and then were also introduced BIOS updates ( which weren't perfect as on the market were barely any 3x4GB kits ).
Barely any X58 board supports 8GB modules. Only some boards have them added to the list but it's unofficial support.
Higher chances will be with 4GB modules but better will be to get double sided sticks ( on old IC ). New IC may cause some issues as X58 wasn't prepared for higher density chips.

I'm not saying that any of these options won't work but there can be various issues from memory support to IMC stability.
I don't know for what you need more RAM but I wouldn't invest in X58. It's already old platform and has its limitations.

 

[Tamaziuk]

Both options aren't best idea. X58 wasn't designed to support 4GB modules, not to mention 8GB. 4GB modules were added some months after premiere and then were also introduced BIOS updates ( which weren't perfect as on the market were barely any 3x4GB kits ).
Barely any X58 board supports 8GB modules. Only some boards have them added to the list but it's unofficial support.
Higher chances will be with 4GB modules but better will be to get double sided sticks ( on old IC ). New IC may cause some issues as X58 wasn't prepared for higher density chips.

I'm not saying that any of these options won't work but there can be various issues from memory support to IMC stability.
I don't know for what you need more RAM but I wouldn't invest in X58. It's already old platform and has its limitations.

If it wasn't designed to support 4GB modules then why does the ASUS page for the Rampage say that it can have up to 24GB with 6 modules. If it cant support 4GB modules it would never be able to reach the max with just 6x 2GB rams.

Source:https://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/RAMPAGE_III_EXTREME/specifications/

 

[Woomack]

It wasn't designed at first. I mean when boards were out then there were no 4GB x3 kits at all. Intel was only thinking about DDR3-1066 standard for 3x4GB when was releasing X58. BIOS updates with 4GB modules were released couple of months later but then DDR3 was only available as double sided modules ( dual rank ). You can also check how many updates were related to memory support. In general manufacturers are dropping any support except CPU microcode after ~3-4 months after releasing motherboard.
If you read some more then you will see that these boards have also unofficial 48GB support as 6x8GB but barely any kit is working.
For me only 2x8GB Crucial 1600/Micron IC was working on Rampage III Extreme and 3x4GB Crucial Elite 1600. 4+ modules were not booting at all.

As I said, maybe you will be lucky and you will make it work. I just say that this platform wasn't designed for high capacity memory modules so nothing is guaranteed.