X58A motherboard: Can mix RAM sizes in triple channel mode?

[dkslim]

I have a question about the Gigabyte X58A motherboards. They have 6 RAM slots. Can we have this configuration: (2gb + 2gb + 2gb) (4gb + 4gb + 4gb), with identical mhz, CAS and voltage etc, and still run both lots in triple channel speed (ie. get full performance from the memory)?

I currently have 3 x 2gb, and need more memory, but would prefer to use them rather than throw them away when getting 4gb sticks to add.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi
I can't see a problem in as much as what you want to achieve however I think you would need to install the larger modules in the first slots (white) and then the 2GB in the blue slots. I think it might affect you memory bandwidth by having the two different sizes though but they should work together.

[dkslim]

Wow, I see you have been busy becoming a moderator since the electrical buzzing noise days

What do you mean by reduced "memory bandwidth"? I looked in the Gigabyte manual but there is no info about my question at all... and when I searched all over the net nobody seems to know the answer for sure... it's quite surprising...

Is there any way Gigabyte technicians can give confident advice on this issue?

[Fatman]

Why don't you try it and then tell us the answer then?

[dkslim]

Because I don't want to be the guinea pig that ends up losing money on returns and restocking fee...

It's a question that can be easily answered by Gigabyte technicians, so why don't they?

[Fatman]

LOL we here are just users like you. We are not technicians and technicians rarely visit these forums anyhoo. From what I understand is that if your timings are the same (I mean sub timings) then you should be ok, but if you are utilizing a program that taps into those upper levels of your memory and the timings are off, then you will get hard lockups or a BSOD........Now I could be totally way off. You would need a guru like Lsdmeasap to answer that kind of of question as I could be completely way off :-)

[dkslim]

Erm ok at least you gave it a shot... thanks for being a helpful fatman

If anyone else has an opinion, please let us know!!

[Fatman]

Why do you need so much memory anyway? if you don't mind me asking?

[Dark Mantis]

Wow, I see you have been busy becoming a moderator since the electrical buzzing noise days

What do you mean by reduced "memory bandwidth"? I looked in the Gigabyte manual but there is no info about my question at all... and when I searched all over the net nobody seems to know the answer for sure... it's quite surprising...

Is there any way Gigabyte technicians can give confident advice on this issue?

Hi dkslim,

How's the new upgraded board running? I heard a UD5 is that right?

No there is precious little information from Gigabyte or anywhere else really. As fatman suggested it might be worth you checking out Lsdmeasap's posts on TweakTown Forums for real in depth info.

I would certainly ask the question to Gigabyte's technical support and see what answer the give. Just in case you have forgotten their link

Just enter your email address and click on the language of choice.
GGTS   http://ggts.gigabyte.com.tw/Default.aspx

Why do you need so much memory anyway? if you don't mind me asking?

Just because he's got it and good bragging rights

[dkslim]

Why do you need so much memory anyway? if you don't mind me asking?

I'm a music maker, and most music makers need as much RAM as they can possibly get for sound sampling

For other people, having lots of RAM might be tasty because it allows them to make a RAMdisk for bootup...

[dkslim]

How's the new upgraded board running? I heard a UD5 is that right?

No there is precious little information from Gigabyte or anywhere else really. As fatman suggested it might be worth you checking out Lsdmeasap's posts on TweakTown Forums for real in depth info.

I would certainly ask the question to Gigabyte's technical support and see what answer the give. Just in case you have forgotten their link

Just enter your email address and click on the language of choice.
GGTS   http://ggts.gigabyte.com.tw/Default.aspx

Thanks, I've sent the question off to them, if I get a satisfactory response I'll report back here

And no I have the same motherboard as you... it's going well apart from the noise issue, but I've grown to live with it.

[Dark Mantis]

And no I have the same motherboard as you... it's going well apart from the noise issue, but I've grown to live with it.

Even better. I heard that you had got an upgrade. I have just heard that Gigabyte is now moving on to the UD7 as far as fixes for the noise goes so it should be down with you soon if not already. Check into it.

You could always try running the FVA BIOS update and see if that works on it's own. It does with some.

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/upload/files/BIOS_X58A-UD7_1.0_FVA.zip

[elgreco]

Did you ever got a response? Have you tried it? Does it work?

How's the new upgraded board running? I heard a UD5 is that right?

No there is precious little information from Gigabyte or anywhere else really. As fatman suggested it might be worth you checking out Lsdmeasap's posts on TweakTown Forums for real in depth info.

I would certainly ask the question to Gigabyte's technical support and see what answer the give. Just in case you have forgotten their link

Just enter your email address and click on the language of choice.
GGTS   http://ggts.gigabyte.com.tw/Default.aspx

Thanks, I've sent the question off to them, if I get a satisfactory response I'll report back here

And no I have the same motherboard as you... it's going well apart from the noise issue, but I've grown to live with it.