Quad Channel Memory in a Dual Channel Board?

[tstaff]

Ok, so I'm building a new gaming system (my current system is so old it needs a walker or a wheelchair) and I have decided on the Intel i7-4770K cpu paired with an ASUS Maximus VI Formula motherboard which is of course utilizing the Z87 chipset.

I wanted 36MB of DDR3 Memory running at 2400MHz so I went ahead and downloaded the manual to verify the compatible memory and in doing so, found something rather interesting. This board is obviously a dual channel memory board but the recommended memory from the manual is G.SKILL Model F3-19200CL10Q-32GBZHD. The interesting part to all of this is that particular model of memory is a quad channel kit.

So in this particular case, ASUS is recommending a quad channel kit for use on its dual channel motherboard? Does this seem somewhat odd to anyone other than myself?

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

Ok, so I'm building a new gaming system (my current system is so old it needs a walker or a wheelchair) and I have decided on the Intel i7-4770K cpu paired with an ASUS Maximus VI Formula motherboard which is of course utilizing the Z87 chipset.

I wanted 36MB of DDR3 Memory running at 2400MHz so I went ahead and downloaded the manual to verify the compatible memory and in doing so, found something rather interesting. This board is obviously a dual channel memory board but the recommended memory from the manual is G.SKILL Model F3-19200CL10Q-32GBZHD. The interesting part to all of this is that particular model of memory is a quad channel kit.

So in this particular case, ASUS is recommending a quad channel kit for use on its dual channel motherboard? Does this seem somewhat odd to anyone other than myself?

being dual channel or quad channel is related to the processor's memory drivers.
in dual channel; cpu has 2 memory controllers and,
in quad channel; cpu has 4 memory controllers.

so, having 4 memory kits is not related in this situation and you can use 4 memory kits in either dual or quad channel according to your cpu+mobo system. if you own 4 memory kits and want to use dual channel setup, each memory controller will be driving 2 kits, and in a quad channel setup each memory kit will be controlled by each memory controller in the cpu.

as a summary, memories are not classified by number channel setups. so you can use those memories safely by either dual or quad channel cpu controllers.
so, basically with a 4770K processor which has 2 memory controllers (aka dual channel memory) you can use 4 memory kits without any issues.

the logic in here is that, with 4 memory kits installed on 4 memory slots, which are controlled by 4 different memory controllers (quad channel) supposed to increase memory performance (which you cannot realize in a real world situation)