# Quad Channel Memory?



## Alteridem (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi, everyone im new to the forums, I have a question regarding the compatibility of any motherboard to quad channel memory? has anyone seens its bench results? if so please post em.

Ive seen quad channel memory that is available Through OCZ and Geil.
*OCZ*
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_6400_8gb_platinum_quad_kit

*Geil*
http://www.geilusa.com/products/show/id/126

And im not sure if an x38 or pci X 2.0 based *motherboard* will support the quad channel configuration, nevertheless if its worth just going to a ddr3 setup? My desired rig: (Keep in mind I will most likely be using a 64 bit based OS more likely windows)

Intel Q6600 *Quad* Core Kentsfield 2.4GHz OC'd to 3.0GHz
(Undecided) OCZ/Geil *Quad* Channel Memory DDR2 1066 low latency
(Undecided) X38 / P5E/K Motherboard with PCI Express 2.0
(Undecided) Gigabyte's I-ram Ramdisk *4*GB for Win XP only
*4* WD Raptor Drives 10,000 RPM 16MB cache 150GB on raid 0 (for apps)
2 Nvidia 7950 GX2 Dual GPU 512MB / 500Mhz on SLI for *Quad* SLI
AEGIA Physx Card 128MB / 700Mhz
(And Triplehead2go from matrox for my multi display 3 LCD 1024x768 monitors)
(undecided) 600-800 watt PSU

Running 2 Cooling Units Freezone Coolit peltier watercooling for the processor alone, and a bigwater i760 for memory and gfx cards and hard drives.

I know this might seems as maybe "*** you need that for" but im power hungry, and as I'm studying 3d animation, particle effects , hair effects, dynamics, renders, and multitasking, gaming, video processing, Office work, web design, photoshop, and more.

whats your opinion and more important do you have any other information on this quad channel memory infrastructure?


----------



## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

Hello, and welcome to the TSF. The Quad memory you refer to is simply a 4 module memory kit, the motherboard itself (chipset) actually supports dual channel memory, thus the quad kit is nothing more than 2 dual channel memory kits matched for someone looking to fill all 4 memory slots on the mobo. To take advantage of that much memory (anything over 3.5Gigs) you will need to run a 64-bit OS, so make sure the software you are going to run is either available, or compatible with 64-bit OS's. It is my opinion, based on reading many reviews, that it is not worth the change over to ddr3 at this time. Currently ddr3 memory has such high latancy (timings) in all but the most expensive of kits that high end ddr2 can still match or best ddr3 performance at a fraction of the cost of ddr3.

Intel Q6600 Quad Core Kentsfield 2.4GHz OC'd to 3.0GHz 

(Undecided) OCZ/Geil Quad Channel Memory DDR2 1066 low latency

(Undecided) X38 / P5E/K Motherboard with PCI Express 2.0

(Undecided) Gigabyte's I-ram Ramdisk 4GB for Win XP only...*you'll need more than 4Gb for XP, way to expensive for the performance in my opinion*.

4 WD Raptor Drives 10,000 RPM 16MB cache 150GB on raid 0 (for apps)....*did you know that the 1TB drives are as fast as a Raptor !*

2 Nvidia 7950 GX2 Dual GPU 512MB / 500Mhz on SLI for Quad SLI....*there is no SLI on Intel chipsets like the X38, The 7950's are a generation old already. Consider either the 8800GT or GTS, for non gaming look at the Quadro line of gpu's*

AEGIA Physx Card 128MB / 700Mhz....*Nice, but few games have any optimization for the Aegia, or anything else for that matter.* 

(And Triplehead2go from matrox for my multi display 3 LCD 1024x768 monitors)

(undecided) 600-800 watt PSU....*forget 600W, for 2 7950's or better you're going to need at least 750W or better from a good psu like PC P&C, and a case with adequate cooling....it can be done without water or phase chage cooling.*


----------



## linderman (May 20, 2005)

*TWA* hit the nail right on the head on all aspects of this thread.


he left no stones unturned 


I agree will all his advice

a system as power hungry as you speak of and your zeal of high end components, I would look to an 850 watt PSU, although the 750 watt PC Power & Cooling would handle the job nicely

so would the ThermalTake Toughpower 850 watt 


ray: well done TWA


----------



## Alteridem (Jan 2, 2008)

Hmm Ok What about the raid array of 0 or 5 however, wouldnt that be a 20-40% performance gain in load times, while reducing the bottleneck of a hard drive, I'm talking "4" raptors 150gb at 10,000 rpm with a 16MB cache, not so much for storage but more so for performance on a raid 0 or 5.

i see your point on the ramdisk however what about as a scractch disk or virtual memory? i have 4 512mb ram modules for 2 gigs total, so that make for a great temp drive or prefetch? maybe?

and thanks for the heads up on the motherboard, ill be making sure my north bridge is nvidia based for sli! (but will that support quad channel still? it would be my impression that the motherboard would have individual pipelines for each module to be used as a raid array for memory in whole rather then 2 duals?

as for the graphics, what else is available for multi gpu processing? could it be that im blinded by the thought of more when its in reality less as u said?
i like the quadros but they kind of limit me more so.

and the physx i can utilize that in my animation processing. i believe more games may support this in the future, but im unsure of that as well.

thanks for your input guys if u have any new feedback please let me know


----------



## linderman (May 20, 2005)

ageia just got bought out by their competitor; you can say bye-bye to them as far as them ever delivering on their potential.


----------



## Alteridem (Jan 2, 2008)

OK what about the new 9800 gx2 graphics cards? same as the 7950 gx2 but in one card has a 30% increase over the 8800 ultra single gpu. in a quad sli format but with a pci express 2.0 support for 2 x16 per card

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQzOSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
or 
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/593/1/

the new Radeon HD 3870 x2 same concept built in physx support, with 2 gpu per card, but get this u can uad sli four of these cards for a total of 8 gpu's utilizing "crossfire*x*" but only at x8 speed per pci express 2.0 (four slots)

if i go with crossfire, im now restricted to amd proc phenom quad core which benches lower then the q6600 on the intel proc... what do u think?


----------



## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

The 9800 gx2 won't be available until March. You'll need a 1000W psu probably to run such a setup and You are not limited to a AMD cpu if you go crossfire......the Intel P35/X38/X48 Chipsets all support Intel cpu's and Crossfire, or you can go with a Nvidia 780i chipset and have all the SLI goodies and an Intel cpu. Many of the current P5K, Maximus, 780i, and x38 mobo's also have support for PCIx-2.0


----------



## Alteridem (Jan 2, 2008)

thanks great info guys


----------

