Dual or Quad channel memory on GA-Z77-DS3H

[Captain Obvious]

First of all, I'm fairly new here and I'm on the verge of buying components for my very first hackintosh.
Now I have a question. What do you guys think?

I want to buy Corsair Vengeance RAM 16GB (2x8Gb) or (4x4Gb).
What do you think? On PC I always read the less sticks the better because of stability.
But I also read alot on tonymac about installing with max 4Gb, is more like a 8Gb stick proven to be difficult?

thanks in advance.

Kind Regards

Rest of components:
- GA-Z77-DS3H
- Nvidia 9600GT (using from old pc, don't game alot)
- Corsair VX550w power supply
- Zalman GS1000 Case
- Samsung SH-203D dvd drive
- Samsung 830 128Gb SSD, Samsung 1tb 7200rpm drive and Samsung 1,5tb 5400rpm storage drive

 

[Dil83]

First of all, I'm fairly new here and I'm on the verge of buying components for my very first hackintosh.
Now I have a question. What do you guys think?

I want to buy Corsair Vengeance RAM 16GB (2x8Gb) or (4x4Gb).
What do you think? On PC I always read the less sticks the better because of stability.
But I also read alot on tonymac about installing with max 4Gb, is more like a 8Gb stick proven to be difficult?

thanks in advance.

Sticks of RAM that have larger capacity are always slower than RAM sticks of smaller capacity. 2x 8gb sticks of RAM won't perform as well as 4x 4gb sticks of RAM. I would recommend 4x 4gb. If you buy them all together as a matched set then you will for sure have no problems. It's when you start mixing unmatched pairs or sets that you can have trouble with the RAM.

 

[thelostswede]

The Z77 chipset only supports dual channel, you don't get quad channel by simply adding four DIMM's.
Instead you'll run dual dual channel so to speak.

 

[Captain Obvious]

So it's not really going to matter if I pick 2 or 4 sticks.
Guess maybe going for 4 sticks is the saver choice if I ever have to take out enough RAM to get 4GB
if I get trouble while installing?

don't see too much questions on the forums about this, maybe because it really doesn't matter

 

[thelostswede]

That was a Snow Leopard issue, Lion and Mountain Lion does't have that problem

 

[Olivier75009]

So it's not really going to matter if I pick 2 or 4 sticks.

Actually, depending on your actual and your future needs, if you 'll go for a 32 gb RAM later, I clearly suggest you to pick a 2x8 gb kit, as you would be able to upgrade it with another SAME reference kit. But you could probably not overclok them as it is not a 4x kit (actually, some of kits from same ref. mixed well together).

I have a quad channel kit from Corsair as it is the only 32 gb @ 1600Mhz recommended kit for my Asus Z77 MB.

 

[thelostswede]

Actually, depending on your actual and your future needs, if you 'll go for a 32 gb RAM later, I clearly suggest you to pick a 2x8 gb kit, as you would be able to upgrade it with another SAME reference kit. But you could probably not overclok them as it is not a 4x kit (actually, some of kits from same ref. mixed well together).

I have a quad channel kit from Corsair as it is the only 32 gb @ 1600Mhz recommended kit for my Asus Z77 MB.

Seriously? You didn't read my reply? Unless you're on an X79 system, there's no such thing as quad channel memory. You might've bought a "quad channel" kit, but it's not going to make any difference on a Z77 board.
And the whole thing about testing the modules together, sure, Corsair does that, most other companies, not so much, so you just get a random selection of RAM from the same batch, that's it and that's if you're lucky.
On top of all of that, considering how high standards that memory modules and DRAM chips have to meet today, you're highly unlikely to run into problems as long as you mix and match same Voltage and same speed modules.
Sure, if you're paranoid, getting the same type from the same manufacturer "might" be a good idea, but considering even big companies like Kingston use whatever they get for cheap that day... you're not guaranteed to get the same DRAM chips if you buy a 16GB pack today and one in six months time. It's just how the memory industry works.

 

[Olivier75009]

Seriously? You didn't read my reply? Unless you're on an X79 system, there's no such thing as quad channel memory. You might've bought a "quad channel" kit, but it's not going to make any difference on a Z77 board.

I never said it would make a difference having a quad channel kit over a dual channel memory system. It's just a better reason for compatibility. I installed ML on M5G with a triple channel RAM kit as I didn't have yet my 32 gb kit, it worked flawlessly and, of course, in dual channel mode. I previously had an Asus X58 MB with two triple channels kits and never succeed to get them running over 1333Mhz (they're supposed to reach 1600Mhz XMP 1.2). Being a Quad, triple or dual channel kit (considering it works "on the go" with the MB) would only be efficient if pushing the RAM over the SPD.

EDIT:
I also, by the past, playing when mixing different kinds of dual/triple channel RAM and/or kits, and unless I wanted to push them on a XMP profile, or manually overclock the modules, I never had any problem letting my system 24/24, 7/7 and gaming some times. (I'm talking about systems like x48, p45, x58, p75 and probably even before - memory fails)

NB : of course, each module was specifically identical (voltage, xmp profiles ...) but did not have for all the same integrated chips. Moreover, depending on the cpu (as it has for years now the integrated memory controller since nehalem for intel), you could have problems with your kit(s). That's probably a good reason why to prefer QVL memories instead of something untested on a specific MB as it's tested for ALL recommended cpus. You also could read forums which talk about confs with your MB + your cpu ..... So.

 

[Olivier75009]

The Z77 chipset only supports dual channel, you don't get quad channel by simply adding four DIMM's.
Instead you'll run dual dual channel so to speak.

Z77 does not only support dual channel RAM, BUT will acting AS IF. (As I told before, I placed one triple memory kit and one stick of another triple kit to install ML. No problem ever appeared for more than a month, 24/24, 7/7 : no gaming, but benchmarking great, PS, AE, Blender and Cinema 4D for heavy stuffs and never had any ones.)

 

[thelostswede]

Z77 does not only support dual channel RAM, BUT will acting AS IF. (As I told before, I placed one triple memory kit and one stick of another triple kit to install ML. No problem ever appeared for more than a month, 24/24, 7/7 : no gaming, but benchmarking great, PS, AE, Blender and Cinema 4D for heavy stuffs and never had any ones.)

Huh? What are you on about? Yes, you can run a single stick of RAM just fine, you can run three sticks just fine. I think you need to brush up on your English here my friend, as you're missing the point of this conversation. Dual-channel, i.e. interleaved memory is what I'm talking about here. I.e. no more than two DIMMs can be run in tandem in interleaved mode, whereas on an X79 you can run four. This is what's called dual and quad channel. Whatever the package of DIMMs says has nothing to do with what you can use them for. If there was such a thing as an octa channel memory kit, it would still work fine in dual channel if you only installed two of them, there just wouldn't be (at least not at the moment) a motherboard that could use them in more than a quad channel configuration in interleaved mode.
Sure, there are X79 boards with 8 DIMM slots, but you'd still only have quad channel at the most.