Triple Channel Memory Classification

[HitmanSilenced]

Hi all,

Specs:

CASE: SilverStone Raven RV02-E USB 3.0
POWERSUPPLY: SilverStone Strider Plus 1000W S
OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Ultimate
MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE X58A-UD7
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz
MEMORY: Gskill Trident Triple Channel F3-16000CL9T
HARD DRIVE: Western Digital Caviar Black
GRAPHICS CARD: Asus Radeon R7 260X DirectCU II OC
SSD PRIMARY: Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB
SSD SECONDARY: OCZ VERTEX 80GB
MONITOR: Acer K222HQL 21.5in Widescreen LCD

So I built my computer quite a few years ago and back than I didn't know a lot which is why some of the hardware is set up oddly. So I have 5 sticks of 2gb ram which I think is an odd setup. My mother board supports triple channel and my ram are all the same model. I know they are tripple channel sticks and they will work. The manual for my motherboard states that triple channel mode will be used if I insert 3 or 4 sticks in specific slots. However since I have 5 sticks inserted it shouldn't be possible. However in CPU-Z and a few other programs its telling me that its in triple channel mode. Is it a simple software error? Taking out the 5th stick wont be an issue since I don't use 10gb and would rather have the performance benefit. Anyway to summarize, is it likely running in single channel mode and the sofware is actually detecting that it can be ran in triple channel? I would like some clarification on if this is the most likely case. Thanks

 

[guanyu210379]

For 3 channel, in order to have your ram running in 3 channel mode, you need 3 or 6 sticks.
With 5 sticks, you ram is definitely running on single channel mode.
With 4 sticks, I think it should run either on single or on 2 channel mode.

 

[Tradesman1]

You are actually running in FLEX mode, so apps like CPU-Z will show it as triple channel, 6GB are in true triple channel and depending on the slots used the odd 4GB will be in dual channel mode - more on FLEX mode in my artical (Item 7) here:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ddr3-dram-faq,review-33220.html

Part 2 of the article on Myths about DRAM is here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr-dram-myths,4155.html

 

[HitmanSilenced]

Interesting findings both very informative, took a read through the articles learned a few new things! The memory is old anyway and since I don't have the last stick ill more than likely shop for new triple channel ram, thanks for all your help!

 

[Tradesman1]

Yep, FLEX has been around for years