RAM Question

[Ray Jay]

I am about to upgrade to the ASUS Crosshair V Formula motherboard (tomorrow Sunday, 7 August 2011).

Now my questions are:

1. Am I better off only using two of the RAM DIMM Slots (2 x 4GB Corsair Dominator GT CMT8GX3M2A1866C9)??? or

2. Am I better off only using all four of the RAM DIMM Slots (4 x 2GB Corsair Dominator GT GT CMT4GX3M2A2133C9)???

I am wanting overclock my system and some forums say only use two DIMM Slots, while others say use all four DIMM Slots.

I can either buy 2 x 4GB Sticks or 4 x 2GB Sticks tomorrow which suits me fine, as I don't have to wait for an online order to arrive and I can get straight in and start building.

Feedback would be greatly appreciated... Thank you

[Ray Jay]

Also, did you think a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium FATAL1TY Champion PCIe sound card is a little overkill???

[Cyrekk]

I also had a hard time with this kind of decision a while back, ended up going 4x2GB due to price/availability at the time. Between the two sets of RAM your listed, the 4x2GB are rated to run at a faster frequency, so they would technically be better. Running only two slots can produce better stability, but I have been running on all slots for the last two years without incident. The other advantage to running two slots is that it leaves room to add more ram if you need to in the future. That said, most users won't need more than 8GB for a long time. If you are looking at getting a good sound card, I would recommend an ASUS product over a Creative product (provided that we haven't time traveled back 10 years into the past). Hope that helps.

[Ray Jay]

@Cyrekk Thanks for your help... The computer shop opens in 2 hours, can't wait

[Jehdin]

Just out of curiosity has anyone used the 2 x 4GB Corsair Dominator GT CMT8GX3M2A1866C9 and had it work? I'm fixing to build a machine also and was thinking about picking up a set of these.

[EVIL_CONSERVATIVE]

Just out of curiosity has anyone used the 2 x 4GB Corsair Dominator GT CMT8GX3M2A1866C9 and had it work? I'm fixing to build a machine also and was thinking about picking up a set of these.

I did, it didnt work. But unsureyet if it was the mem or the MB which is still in RMA 4th dimension of slow returnedness.

[Jehdin]

Hmm when you get your board back and test it again can you post it up here? I'm curious on it before I pull the trigger.

[TechJackass88]

I don't see any difference if you would get two or four slots populated with ram, however, if it's not listed in a support guide, then you will have to manually tune that ram to work right, and I mean manually, down to the point of finding out voltages and timings that not crashing your system. This board is like unbroken stallion, it will kick you off in a heartbeat, I almost got to the point of RMA'ing mine, but Raja had excelent guide that explained everything.