4 Sticks vs 8 Sticks on x99 board

[FoxKitsune]

So I'm planning out a future build (like probably Christmas time this year) for myself and was wondering whether or not more is better for sticks of RAM. The board I went ahead and chose was the Asus X99-PRO/USB 3.1 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard as it has a good amount of fan headers and built in Bluetooth among lots of other things. I've heard that spreading RAM out amongst multiple sticks can potentially cut down on heat. I will be planning to put in the max capacity of 64GB right off the bat and as such would like to know if it would be better to have 4 sticks of 16GB RAM or 8 sticks of 8GB RAM. Also I guess I should note that my processor is the Intel-i7 5930K.

 

[Steven_Fikhman]

There is no difference, but the memory controller may sometimes reduce the tertiary timings with more than one stick per channel.
It can only talk to one stick per channel at a time.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Ultimately, if it has 8 slots for RAM, then it can physically support 8 sticks, so I guess the decider would really be the price. What costs more? Four 16GB sticks or eight 8GB stick kits? I think that with the quad-channel controller on the X99 systems it might be a bit advantageous to have one stick per channel which would reduce (as mentioned) some of the timings (some sticks are further away, thus slightly longer physical traces, thus slightly longer time for electrical signals) allowing for a slight gain in performance.

However, if the RAM costs significantly more - then it wouldn't be worth it. From the looks of pricing (newegg), 8x8GB is running about $250, while 4x16GB is running about $220. I would say no brainer then, go for the 4x16GB. Plus that will allow you to space the RAM out for easier cooling.

Just as a side note I guess it's harder to find eight compatible modules in the 8GB size than it is to find four compatible 16GB modules. That's the only way I can see the 4x16 being cheaper than the 8x8...

 

[Tradesman1]

I'd look for 4x16, less sticks is less load on the MC (memory controller), less juice and less heat

 

[Rookie_MIB]

I'd look for 4x16, less sticks is less load on the MC (memory controller), less juice and less heat

Just out of curiosity, has that ever been really measured? The way I see it is that 16GB of transistors is 16GB of transistors whether it's 1x16GB, 2x8GB, or 4x16GB. You're still driving the same number of overall transistors.

 

[Tradesman1]

True basically, using 4 lanes to manage things rather than 8. Each channel has 2 slots, so feeding and reading 2 devices per channel with 8 sticks

 

[FoxKitsune]

Alright so it sounds like 4x16 is the winner.

So two more (kind of stupid) questions then. Do I place 1 stick in each channel (ex: channels 1 & 2 on left and channels 3 & 4 on the right) or put 2 sticks per channel (ex: channels 1 & 2 on both sides of CPU socket). Also would it noticeably hinder my system if I went with the later option? I'm not OCD about symmetry like Death the Kid so I have no problem with the RAM being off set so to speak if I have to put 1 stick per channel.

 

[Tradesman1]

Yes, in the lead slot for each channel to enable you to use full quad channel

 

[Karadjgne]

Cooling is or can be a factor too. Many of the larger air coolers are very rear oriented, so using 4 sticks under the backside could be an issue. Of course this is a non issue with CLC's or water cooled cpus.