Asus Maximus VIII Formula w/ Corsair Dominator Ram question

[ccppbb]

I have everything for my build sitting in the other room, but had a question with the motherboard + ram before starting/running into issues. I guess I didn't research this enough and pulled the trigger early, but I have an Asus Maximus VIII Formula board and Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4-3200 ram (using an i7-6700k). I know this is quad-channel memory, and after looking at builds and seeing this ram CAN work in 2x4 and 4x4 configurations with the correct bios settings but have not seen any builds with the speed of my ram at 3200 or the size at 32GB before and there seems to be more issues than answers on this topic. My question is should I return the ram for a lower speed, say 2666 and still keep 4x4 32GB @2666, or maybe just get 2x4 16GB @ 2666/3000 or any suggested speeds. I also have two of the Corsair Dominator Light kits because I planned on running 4 sticks. I know its silly to stick with this ram purely based on the aesthetics of the kit but I would settle on returning one of the kits or just use different ram entirely if need be. I haven't built a PC in ~7+ years so it feels like I have to relearn all the little things again.

 

[Tradesman1]

You bought it all as a set? Single set? If so should be no worries. I was running 4x8GB on my Hero of 3200 Trident Zs with no problems and recently grabbed a set of 2x16GB 3200/14 TriZs.....currently I' running those with a pair of the 8GB sticks, so 48GB all together. If any problems give me a shout

 

[ccppbb]

You bought it all as a set? Single set? If so should be no worries. I was running 4x8GB on my Hero of 3200 Trident Zs with no problems and recently grabbed a set of 2x16GB 3200/14 TriZs.....currently I' running those with a pair of the 8GB sticks, so 48GB all together. If any problems give me a shout

No I purchased 2 sets, of 2x8GB each = 4 sticks of 8GB = 32GB. They only had 2 sets of 2x8GB at Microcenter so I went with that. Should I return them and then order a full set of 4x8GB from newegg/amazon?

 

[Tradesman1]

If you have them can give them a try, no guarantee they will play, but might. Other option is like you mention, return and get a single set, DDR3 could prove to be very problematic when mixing sets, even of the same exact model, DDR4 seems a bit more flexible, though I haven't yet been able to test as much as I would like

 

[ccppbb]

If you have them can give them a try, no guarantee they will play, but might. Other option is like you mention, return and get a single set, DDR3 could prove to be very problematic when mixing sets, even of the same exact model, DDR seems a bit more flexible, though I haven't yet been able to test as much as I would like

Thanks, I assume you meant DDR4, what settings in the bios should I put, and enable XMP? Is there a good sticky or post that you know of that can help when I boot up for the first time?

 

[Tradesman1]

Yep, my bad (I slapped that lazy finger), yes DDR4 'seems' to be more flexible and with the lower voltages and on most sets of sticks sort of loose timings, it gives more room to play and adjust