Will filling all memory 4 slots create problems?

G'day all,

I currently have:
i5 750
P55A-UD3
ATI 4870 512mb
WD Cavier Black 1TB HDD
Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD
4GB DDR3 (2x2gb sticks) 1600MHz G.Skill Ripjaws (F3-12800CL9D)
600W Coolermaster SilentProM

At the moment it's all running at stock speeds, as I haven't come across any games where the CPU is limited I haven't felt the need to overclock it, and when running simulations it runs for many hours on end at 100% so I need it running perfectly stable. I believe this means the ram gets downlclocked to 1333MHz, though admittedly I dont know a lot about that stuff.

I want to throw in another 4gb of ram to make it 8gb (4x2gb sticks).

But I've heard that filling all 4 slots can cause stability issues, BSODs, failure to boot. Is this true? Should I avoid filling all 4 slots and just learn to live with only 4gb?

Cheers,
Tudz

All 4 slots should run fine and stable. I've had no problems with 4x1GB in my old p965 running stock and all stock standard voltages. It should work in the newer P55 chipsets as well, that's the way they are designed.

There are a few cases where people have had to up the NB or DIMM voltage to get stability.
There are some reported cases where having all 4 populated limit overclock, some say due to the extra strain on NB handling the additional memory channels, or the additional modules don't themselves don't clock as high as the originals. YMMV.

Stick your new modules in, and run memtest86+ over night, get at least 15 passes or so. If it can do that, your golden.

Much like Menelmarar said, shouldn't be a problem. Only times I've seen issues is with overclocking. Well, that and finding out that one of the dimm slots has actually gone bad. Where you never notice an issue, til you actually populate it.

I'm playing with 4x 2GB at the moment on i5 750 and i7 860, RAM is rated to 2000MHz @ CL8. I can tell you that at 1333Mhz everything is dandy, and mild overclocks are still no trouble at all. Where it gets interesting is pushing the 8GB at really high speeds i.e. around the 1850MHz-2000MHz the RAM is good for.

A couple of people are telling me to crank up VTT to obscene levels (I'm not willing to do it) but it I don't think you will have any trouble if you are sticking to 1600Mhz. You may of course need to tweak some voltages to get 100% stability i.e. running 80+ loops of IntelBurnTest. Or you may need to tweak the timings e.g. I noticed that BCLK of 161 is better than 160 for my system

Well that's encouraging. The guy who was telling me about the stability problems with all ram slots filled was saying you'd probably have to tweak the voltage for clocks above 1333MHz.

So if I do pop in the extra 4gb and run into issues, I should start playing with that?

I just really dont want to pay another $150AUD for 4gb more ram if it just ends up cauing me headaches.

Thanks for help.

u should

Hmm, just found this thread which destroyed my confidence a bit

That's my identical mobo, and the ram I'll have is 9-9-9-24 too.

Now I dont know what to do

Tudz said:

Hmm, just found this thread which destroyed my confidence a bit

That's my identical mobo, and the ram I'll have is 9-9-9-24 too.

Now I dont know what to do

Click to expand...

Four slots will be fine, I'm not sure where the rumors cropped up about stability issues when using four; I suppose it's those vocal few people thinking their system should be stable with their overclocks and blaming something other than themselves (go figure!) when it is not. I don't know. What you're worried about and what you've cited is simply what happens every now and then: bad hardware.

The vast majority of motherboards and memory have good warranties, if they're bad, RMA them and be done. Don't let isolated instances stop you.

You have G.Skill though, he has Adata. What BIOS are each of you running? What timings are being set manually and automatically? Does VTT need altering on his setup? Has he got enough power to be stable with 8GB? That thread is missing quite a bit of info required for trouble shooting and we don't know what is screwed up there.

There is no way you can conclude that you will have the same problems! If you are really worried sell the RAM you have and buy an 8GB matched set, or buy another two 2x 2GB of exactly the same type at the same time. First though you should go to the Gigabyte website and see if you can download a list of DIMMs that have been verified to work with your board at the speed you want.

IanM said:

You have G.Gkill though, he has Adata. What BIOS are each of you running? What timings are being set manually and automatically? Does VTT need altering on his setup? Has he got enough power to be stable with 8GB? That thread is missing quite a bit of info required for trouble shooting and we don't know what is screwed up there.

There is no way you can conclude that you will have the same problems! If you are really worried sell the RAM you have and buy an 8GB matched set, or buy another two 2x 2GB of exactly the same type at the same time. First though you should go to the Gigabyte website and see if you can download a list of DIMMs that have been verified to work with your board at the speed you want.

Click to expand...

Well my plan was to buy the exact same model of ram, is that good enough or should I buy it all in one hit?

I had a look at the gigabyte website for my mobo, it doesn't have my exact ram listed, it has this ram listed to work at 1600MHz:
F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ

Where as mine is the "ripjaw" version (it has the same timings and speeds, not sure what's different with the ripjaw version):
F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

Tudz said:

Well my plan was to buy the exact same model of ram, is that good enough or should I buy it all in one hit?

Click to expand...

I really think you'll be fine just buying another of the exact same model, I bought two 2x 2GB at the same time but they aren't from the same batch so there is no guarantee of anything buying it all at the same time. In the very unlikely event that the packs you buy are slightly apart in terms of voltage your mobo should have a setting to slightly offset them (though I think that only matters if you have different specs for each pair of DIMMs, or are really pushing the limits of OC)

Tudz said:

I had a look at the gigabyte website for my mobo, it doesn't have my exact ram listed, it has this ram listed to work at 1600MHz:
F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ

Where as mine is the "ripjaw" version (it has the same timings and speeds, not sure what's different with the ripjaw version):
F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

Click to expand...

You'd have to find the models on the G.Skill website, but I think there are variations in heatsink styles and colour. Ripjaws come in red, blue and grey, not sure if the colours mean anything but I'd hazard a guess that if the timings are rated the same, the model differences may be voltage (as long as yours are all the same and 1.65V or less it should be good)

I've been having problems with my computer (see sig) with 4x2GB installed. But that could be an isolated instance.

Running 4 DIMMS usually requires you to pump in voltage to run them. I some cases to even get them running stock you have to loosen the timings as well, especially tRFC which will certainly have to be raised. Arguably it will also hold back your overclock as well, but that really depends on the ram installed.

I've had no problems with 4x1GB in my old p965 running stock and all stock standard voltages

Click to expand...

What kind of ram are you running. I have 2 P965 boards running 4x1 in the house and they will NOT run at stock volts stable, some won't even boot until you up to max factory volt settings, around 2.00v-2.05v.