Dual v3 mobo memory config question

[zombie67]

So I ended up going with the ASRock mobo. I have only 4 DIMMs to use right now. More are on the way, so eventually all 8 DIMM slots will be filled.

But until then, I will be using only the 4. All the other dual CPU mobos I have seen, say 2 go into the slots around each CPU. It can vary, either two slots next to each other, or alternating slots. But always 2 for each CPU.

This mobo says to put all 4 around just the #1 CPU, even when both CPUs are populated. Can this possibly be right? Check out page 20 of the manual.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2C612%20WS.pdf

It seems to contradict their own block diagram on page 14, which implies that the DIMM sockets around CPU#1 are all for CPU#1, not shared.

Can page 20 possibly be right?

[Fire$torm]

So I ended up going with the ASRock mobo. I have only 4 DIMMs to use right now. More are on the way, so eventually all 8 DIMM slots will be filled.

But until then, I will be using only the 4. All the other dual CPU mobos I have seen, say 2 go into the slots around each CPU. It can vary, either two slots next to each other, or alternating slots. But always 2 for each CPU.

This mobo says to put all 4 around just the #1 CPU, even when both CPUs are populated. Can this possibly be right? Check out page 20 of the manual.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...2C612%20WS.pdf

It seems to contradict their own block diagram on page 14, which implies that the DIMM sockets around CPU#1 are all for CPU#1, not shared.

Can page 20 possibly be right?

Yep, that's the way the manual reads. Now whether or not the manual is accurate? That I cannot say. Logic dictates if you try it though the manual is wrong, then the system just won't boot.

[John P. Myers]

I'm gonna say there's a 99.9999% chance it's wrong

[zombie67]

Whelp, it's running. Task manager sees all threads and all memory. No idea how, or how well. But this is a temporary situation anyway. Seriously, how messed up is this? Are all documents just crap?

"Have you ever seen a TV program, concerning a topic about which you were actually knowledgeable, spew forth anything other than total BS? I don't think I can recall one :-( It's scary!" --Malcolm Hoar

If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. -- Author unknown, commonly attributed to Mark Twain or Thomas Jefferson

[John P. Myers]

Come to think of it, it's not even feasible to run the motherboard's circuitry to allow DIMM slots in any random location to work with a CPU socket farther away. The physical distance the DIMMs are from the CPU is very important since light only travels 11.8 inches per nanosecond, which is the unit of measure the RAM timings are based on. A slot that's too far away will be out of time with the closer slots.

[zombie67]

The first 225 win7 updates are almost finished. Upon completion, I will try using their 2 DIMM config, but with each CPU, and see what happens.

[John P. Myers]

I understand why task manager would see all memory, because technically it is all there. Same with all cores. They are all there, somewhere. But i doubt you could actually use a core on CPU2 unless Win7 uses the swap file for everything.

[zombie67]

Everything is running the same some how. I give up. Of course, none of this is under any kind of load. That won't happen until all the updates complete sometime next month.

[Bryan]

Come to think of it, it's not even feasible to run the motherboard's circuitry to allow DIMM slots in any random location to work with a CPU socket farther away. The physical distance the DIMMs are from the CPU is very important since light only travels 11.8 inches per nanosecond, which is the unit of measure the RAM timings are based on. A slot that's too far away will be out of time with the closer slots.

The electrical signals travel much slower than that on a PC board That figure is for "free space". But since everything is "relative" then timing issue is real regardless of the speed.

[Bryan]

double post