18GB on Asus P6T?

[zenoli]

I'm currently running on an Asus P6T motherboard (not P6T Deluxe!) with 6 GB of OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 Platinum Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3P1600LV6GK, a 3x2GB kit rated at 1.65V and 7-7-7-24). (Full build is more or less here, though the power supply got replaced and I've added an extra SATA controller and a bunch more hard drives.) I'm regularly exhausting my RAM and swapping like mad, and it's time to fill up those other three slots.

The machine is used for both scientific simulation (under Linux) and gaming (under Win 7, 64-bit). I'd like to be able to run larger simulations on the box, so the more RAM, the merrier. (Yes, I really can make use of more than 12 GB of RAM in my scenario...I currently have to offload the larger simulations to various servers, and it would be great to ramp up the scale for what I can run locally.)

The P6T is officially rated for 12GB total, but I recall seeing some forum posts a few years back that some users have pushed it to 24GB. Can anyone confirm that it would be reasonable to try to fill the three open slots with a 3x4GB kit, bringing the system total to 18GB? Or would this just be asking for trouble?

What's my best path to speed, stability, and a lot more RAM?

(a) Try a 12GB kit, bringing the system total to 18GB. So far, I've found just one 12 GB kit (3x4GB) rated for 7-7-7-24, 1.65V, 1600MHz: Mushkin 999056. Is this my best bet? Should I prefer relaxing the timings on the OCZ and go with another kit? Will this actually work with the P6T? Is the linked site (RamExperts.com) a good dealer to buy it from?

(b) Go all the way to 24GB with a matched set of two Mushkin 999056 kits (or another pair of kits, since if the 6GB kit is replaced, I don't have to worry about matching the timings). Is this likely to work on the P6T?

(c) Don't risk it, stick with a second 7-7-7-24 6GB kit, and settle for 12 GB. (I'd have to find something other than the OCZ, though, since the one I'm using is EOL.)

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[zenoli]

Hm, the forum won't allow me to edit the message, but for option (b), I should add that it probably would make more sense to go with an actual 24 GB kit. Something like this 6x4GB Corsair Vengeance?

 

[leotm]

Motherboard : Asus P6T Deluxe V2 iX58 Socket 1366 8 Channel Audio ATX (BIOS v0901).

Motherboard RAM support : 6 x DIMM, Max. 24 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)*/1866(O.C.)*/1800(O.C.)*/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
Triple channel memory architecture.
(Source: http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/P6T_Deluxe_V2/#specifications)

Ram : OCZ 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 2000MHz Gold Memory Kit CL10(10-10-10-30) 1.65V.
12GB Triple Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9).

Before inserting 3x4GB RAM into the additional slots, Windows was running 3x2GB triple channel memory fine for 2 years.

Operating System : Windows 8 Professional 64-bit.
(Physical memory limit: 512GB. Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778%28VS.85%29.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_8)

Windows is only showing - Installed memory (RAM): 12.0GB, meaning the 3x4GB sticks are working fine.

Task Manager is showing - Slots used: 4 of 6. How can this be?

Found a similar post here, but with no answer:
http://i4memory.com/f54/asus-p6t-deluxe-v2-18gb-sees-12gb-32411/

We can see from the sources it is possible to run 24GB RAM with my motherboard and all sticks are working and I am running 2 x triple channel memory. What could be wrong?

Thanks