Question Upgrading triple channel memory system

[paro-88]

Hi all, I have a system based on i7-920 with 6x2GB 1600MHz RAM sticks (12GB). I would like to upgrade my CPU and MOBO without wasting RAM sticks, but it seems that triple channel memory architecture is dead. Is that so?

What would you suggest me as a CPU+MOBO upgrade, given that I would like a cost-effective solution? I'm open to AMD-based solutions. Also, I'm open to second-hand market.

 

[SHMILY]

You can add another 2 memory to up to 4 channels on X79.
I would like to buy a x79 with e5-2620v2 * 2 ， but it is only 2.0GHZ. But will be 20cores 40Thread and it is cheap~~~ mobo will be a little expensive.

 

[DavidM012]

A google search of triple channel ddr 3 motherboard throws up this. (for info)

or this.

No amd? Socket 1366 cpus seem supported, for example Xeon. 2nd hand prices you have your pick of the bunch, not bad for around £100.

Socket 2011 This says the x79 is two dimms per channel

Sandy Bridge-EP (Xeon E5 1600/2600/4600 series), Ivy Bridge-EP (Xeon E5 1600/2600/4600 v2 series) Three dimms per channel to look for boards with the c602, c604, c606, c608, chipset range

Quad-channel DDR3, up to three DIMMs per channel

c612 is haswell

Haswell-EP (Xeon E5 1600/2600/4600 v3 series), Broadwell-EP (Xeon E5 1600/2600/4600 v4 series)

Quad-channel DDR4, up to three DIMMs per channel

ddr 4 boards, it's still kickin'! Only not compatible with your dimms.

A liitle? Expensive? £600 enough for you?

 

[SHMILY]

I do not know the price in other country. In China, c602(used) only cost 300RMB-500RMB(£ 34-£ 56) . But acturally, X79 always has minor problems. And it is not suitable for playing game. Recently, I plan to buy a c602 with 2620v2*2 (£13 per one). And ddr3 is cheaper than ddr4.

 

[paro-88]

Thank you for your reply! My upgrade would be for gaming purpose, so maybe a Xeon based architecture is not a good choice. As i see in your very useful links (this one especially) Xeon processors increase mostly the number of cores, but little on frequencies. I don't want to waste hundreds to get a +0.20GHz.

I think i have no choice but to kiss goodbye my 6 ram sticks and my LGA1366 Asus P6T and upgrade to an LGA1155/1156/1151 socket. Or maybe switch to AMD!

 

[DavidM012]

Yes it will get more obselete more quickly.

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

The P6T is an x58 board, so one can possibly pickup a xeon x5670 or X5680 for $20-$50 and a decent increase in threads and performance, it's a good stopgap imo. But in the end, it's a dead end system and will definitely bottleneck anything beyond a gtx 1070.

(I will upgrade my x58 system to amd eventually as well, but atm, my xeon e5660 has been very good to me.)

 

[paro-88]

The P6T is an x58 board, so one can possibly pickup a xeon x5670 or X5680 for $20-$50 and a decent increase in threads and performance, it's a good stopgap imo. But in the end, it's a dead end system and will definitely bottleneck anything beyond a gtx 1070.

(I will upgrade my x58 system to amd eventually as well, but atm, my xeon e5660 has been very good to me.)

I agree. I recently bought a GTX 1060 6GB: in fact, I'm trying to give my system one last boost to "balance" it and let it live for another couple of years. Then it would finally be free to "retire".

Instead of upgrading to a used Xeon, I managed to OC my i7 920 to 3.60GHz (never above 70 °C under Prime95 stress test).