Quad Channel Memory on Sandy Bridge

[AMD_Gamer]

Quick question, I thought Sandy Bridge was supposed to have Quad Channel memory? I know Bulldozer is going to support it?

 

[Activate: AMD]

I'm pretty sure SB was always supposed to have dual channel. The future "enthusiast" segment skt 1366 replacement is the one rumored to have quad channel

 

[AMD_Gamer]

I'm pretty sure SB was always supposed to have dual channel. The future "enthusiast" segment skt 1366 replacement is the one rumored to have quad channel

I'm sure you are right. I plan to sit out this generation or at least wait to see what Bulldozer offers so I have not been following the technical details, But i did read one of the Bulldozer previews that it would have Quad Channel memory support.

 

[DarkStryke]

LGA2011 is due to have quad channel ddr3.

 

[pxc]

Quick question: how much faster is a SB CPU that some have already purchased in retail over vapor BD hype?

I'll have a good chuckle reading the droid 'zone in the morning. The flailing posts should be entertaining. Thanks for a preview.

 

[Tudz]

Damn I also thought SB was gonna have quad channel. Oh well, I'll wait for the next batch of CPUs then.

 

[plugwash]

Quick question, I thought Sandy Bridge was supposed to have Quad Channel memory? I know Bulldozer is going to support it?

As I understand it sandy bridge is actually the name of a microarchitecture (basically design of the core CPU). There will be multiple sandy bridge based processors on different sockets with different numbers of cores, memory channels and other features for different markets.

The first sandy bridge chips to be released are the mainstream* LGA1155 parts with dual channel memory, no QPI and limited PCIe.

It doesn't seem too clear exactly what will be happening with high end sandy bridge. Some say that LGA2011 with quad channel memory will be a server only socket and that there will be LGA1356 with triple channel memory for the high end desktop. Others imply that LGA2011 will serve both the high end desktop and the server markets.

*Yes I know they are the fastest quad cores yet but being fast alone doesn't make a high end processor nowadays. The interfaces offered are also important.

 

[beefxstix]

Very informative post^ answers all my questions as well

 

[stockwiz]

sandy is a good choice for 775ers that can't wait and people only running one video card. I've heard, and do believe, that they will have 4 and 8 core variants for socket 1155 when the 22nm ivy bridge arrives in about a year.. that they will keep the same sockets for it.... It makes sense as they could certainly fit the extra cores in there, and ivy is said to just be a refresh of sandy at the smaller 22nm size. I plan to upgrade from 1155 to 2011 at some point and sell the 1155 stuff or build my mother a Christmas system with it if Ivy bridge is slated to come out no later then Jan 5 2012. I doubt the memory speed will make much of a difference. More concern to me is limited pci express.

 

[Syphon Filter]

As I understand it sandy bridge is actually the name of a microarchitecture (basically design of the core CPU). There will be multiple sandy bridge based processors on different sockets with different numbers of cores, memory channels and other features for different markets.

The first sandy bridge chips to be released are the mainstream* LGA1155 parts with dual channel memory, no QPI and limited PCIe.

It doesn't seem too clear exactly what will be happening with high end sandy bridge. Some say that LGA2011 with quad channel memory will be a server only socket and that there will be LGA1356 with triple channel memory for the high end desktop. Others imply that LGA2011 will serve both the high end desktop and the server markets.

*Yes I know they are the fastest quad cores yet but being fast alone doesn't make a high end processor nowadays. The interfaces offered are also important.

What is QPI? I'm catching up on all the latest techs...

 

[drescherjm]

Quick question, I thought Sandy Bridge was supposed to have Quad Channel memory? I know Bulldozer is going to support it?

Neither SB 1155 nor Bulldozer AM3+ will support quad channel ram.

Socket 2011 SB will and AMD's server G34 platform will support quad channel.

 

[Filter]

sandy is a good choice for 775ers that can't wait and people only running one video card. I've heard, and do believe, that they will have 4 and 8 core variants for socket 1155 when the 22nm ivy bridge arrives in about a year.. that they will keep the same sockets for it.... It makes sense as they could certainly fit the extra cores in there, and ivy is said to just be a refresh of sandy at the smaller 22nm size. I plan to upgrade from 1155 to 2011 at some point and sell the 1155 stuff or build my mother a Christmas system with it if Ivy bridge is slated to come out no later then Jan 5 2012. I doubt the memory speed will make much of a difference. More concern to me is limited pci express.

socket 1155 is for low end to mid range chips. you wont see the 6-8 cores till socket 2011

 

[Forceman]

socket 1155 is for low end to mid range chips. you wont see the 6-8 cores till socket 2011

If you consider a quad-core running at 3.4Ghz that crushes anything less than a $800 chip a mid-range part, then yes, they are low-mid range parts.

 

[Filter]

If you consider a quad-core running at 3.4Ghz that crushes anything less than a $800 chip a mid-range part, then yes, they are low-mid range parts.

intel is the one who claims its a midrange part. not I

 

[silent-circuit]

What is QPI? I'm catching up on all the latest techs...

QuickPath Interconnect, Intel's chip to chip bus architecture / standard for inter-processor communication in systems with more than one physical chip. It's already being used in the Xeon server / multi-CPU chips with the current i7s. For example, you need chips that have QPI support to run them on a EVGA SR-2 board or other dual socket (or quad socket -- are there quad socket i7 boards yet?) setup. I regular i7 920 or whatever won't work because it lacks QPI.

 

[Syphon Filter]

QuickPath Interconnect, Intel's chip to chip bus architecture / standard for inter-processor communication in systems with more than one physical chip. It's already being used in the Xeon server / multi-CPU chips with the current i7s. For example, you need chips that have QPI support to run them on a EVGA SR-2 board or other dual socket (or quad socket -- are there quad socket i7 boards yet?) setup. I regular i7 920 or whatever won't work because it lacks QPI.

Thanks for that!

So basically, it's not something that a home user/gamer intending to run a single CPU setup needs to worry about in the slightest!

Good to know.

 

[notarat]

I'm sure you are right. I plan to sit out this generation or at least wait to see what Bulldozer offers so I have not been following the technical details, But i did read one of the Bulldozer previews that it would have Quad Channel memory support.

I hear that's a pre-requisite for using the name AMD_Gamer. Otherwise, you'd have to give up your handle.

 

[plugwash]

QuickPath Interconnect, Intel's chip to chip bus architecture / standard for inter-processor communication in systems with more than one physical chip.

And also for linking processors to IO hubs

It's already being used in the Xeon server / multi-CPU chips with the current i7s. For example, you need chips that have QPI support to run them on a EVGA SR-2 board or other dual socket (or quad socket -- are there quad socket i7 boards yet?) setup. I regular i7 920 or whatever won't work because it lacks QPI.

The i7 9xx DO have QPI but they only have one QPI port and IIRC don't support QPI routing. So the QPI can only be used to link the processor to a single x58 IO hub.

The xeon 55xx/56xx processors have two QPI ports which are used to create a ring with up to two processors and up to two IO hubs (though boards with two IO hubs are pretty rare).

The xeon 65xx and 75xx processors have four QPI ports (though lower models in the series have somep ports disabled) to allow for large meshes of connections between processors

 

[-Sn1PeR-]

I hear that's a pre-requisite for using the name AMD_Gamer. Otherwise, you'd have to give up your handle.

He's on an i7 920 and gtx 460 now so it's hardly relevant.

 

[AMD_Gamer]

He's on an i7 920 and gtx 460 now so it's hardly relevant.

But i own a large amount of stock in AMD so it evens out.

 

[pxc]

But i own a large amount of stock in AMD so it evens out.

Are you in the black or red?