Overclocking an i7-920 with 24GB RAM on an MSI Pro-E?

[kaidomac]

Update: Went with 6 x 4GB DDR3-1600 G.Skill Ripjaws. Easily overclocks to 4.0Ghz stable. Yay.


I need some more RAM. Rig is MSI Pro-E, Core i7-920, and Megahalem. I've got a single 4GB DDR3 1333 G.Skill right now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231310

Looking at either 6 of those, or 6 of the 4GB DDR3 1600 G.Skill:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231313

Case is rackmount with 9 fans, so plenty of cooling, plus dual 120's on the Megahalem. Wondering if the 1600 is worth the extra cost for OC'ing, or if having 24GB is going to limit it too much and I should just save some cash and go with the 1333.

[zanzabar]

i would really recommend not doing this, anything over 12GB u really need ECC

[kaidomac]

i would really recommend not doing this, anything over 12GB u really need ECC

Yeah, total waste to OC on 24GB?

[zanzabar]

its not a waste but going over 12GB without ECC u are asking to get file and os corruption, 12GB and ocing with what u have now would work, u may have some ram problems but 24GB is a no go. u could change to a xeon and get ecc support, then ecc ram (its the same price for 4GB sticks for ecc and non ecc) and hop that your board supports it.

what are u doing that 24GB of ram would be helpful

[kaidomac]

its not a waste but going over 12GB without ECC u are asking to get file and os corruption, 12GB and ocing with what u have now would work, u may have some ram problems but 24GB is a no go. u could change to a xeon and get ecc support, then ecc ram (its the same price for 4GB sticks for ecc and non ecc) and hop that your board supports it.

what are u doing that 24GB of ram would be helpful

Video editing & VM's. I'd like more than 24GB but the i7 fits the budget right now. Have tests proven that > 12GB non-ECC gives corruption? Seems pretty dumb to have 24GB if it's not reliable...

[zanzabar]

ive tested 16GB on older ddr3 parts and it had problems, if u look at anything server related they say ECC for anything over 8GB.

[kaidomac]

ive tested 16GB on older ddr3 parts and it had problems, if u look at anything server related they say ECC for anything over 8GB.

Sure it wasn't just bad memory? I know a few people with 16GB w/o problems. But I've only done servers with 24GB+ (ECC).

[josh1980]

There was a study done by someone(I want to say Google) and they tested ECC versus non-ECC memory to determine how much ECC really mattered. It was something in the ball park of 1 bit swap every 3months of 24x7 usage. They attributed his to cosmic rays. What was very interesting was that you'd think that if you doubled the amount of memory you'd end up with twice the number of bits swapped, but that wasn't the case. The change was statistically insignificant.

Based on that study, I disgree with zanzabar's take on ECC. I'm not saying he's lying or anything, just that the issues he had were not caused by memory density. Also, if non-ECC memory was that unreliable, companies wouldn't be selling it because they wouldn't want the liability of having to replace it under waranty constantly. Remember, they're in business to make money, and if they're selling an unreliable item with a lifetime warranty they won't be in business very long.

Also, I have 3 computers with 24GB of non-ECC RAM, crunching non-stop for the last few months, and they are all rock solid...

EDIT: From wikipedia: Recent studies show that single event upsets due to cosmic radiation have been dropping dramatically with process geometry and previous concerns over increasing bit cell error rates are unfounded. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic..._access_memory

[nugzo]

There was a study done by someone(I want to say Google) and they tested ECC versus non-ECC memory to determine how much ECC really mattered. It was something in the ball park of 1 bit swap every 3months of 24x7 usage. They attributed his to cosmic rays. What was very interesting was that you'd think that if you doubled the amount of memory you'd end up with twice the number of bits swapped, but that wasn't the case. The change was statistically insignificant.

Based on that study, I disgree with zanzabar's take on ECC. I'm not saying he's lying or anything, just that the issues he had were not caused by memory density. Also, if non-ECC memory was that unreliable, companies wouldn't be selling it because they wouldn't want the liability of having to replace it under waranty constantly. Remember, they're in business to make money, and if they're selling an unreliable item with a lifetime warranty they won't be in business very long.

Also, I have 3 computers with 24GB of non-ECC RAM, crunching non-stop for the last few months, and they are all rock solid...

EDIT: From wikipedia: Recent studies show that single event upsets due to cosmic radiation have been dropping dramatically with process geometry and previous concerns over increasing bit cell error rates are unfounded. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic..._access_memory

Well now. It sure got quiet in here lol.

Dude on newegg says this is stable for him. 24GB at 2050Mhz. I'm Impressed. If its truly stable.
Other Thoughts: 24GB Ripkaws @ 2050mHz
i7 920 @ 4.5gHz
WS Revolution @ 232 BCLK
OCZ 60GB Vertex X 4 RAID0
Asus 5970 X 2 QuadFire
PC P&C 1200W
3 X 1920X1200 Displays

[tool_462]

If it were me I'd just get 5 more sticks of the one you already have, save yourself the ~$300. With 24GB you'll have to have a chip with a great IMC to get much OC out of those sticks either way.

As for ECC, I've been hearing "must get ECC!" since people were rolling 8GB back when 2GB was the norm Seems like the "ECC required above xxGB" argument scales linear to the average amount of system RAM, when you go above and beyond the norm I guess.

I don't foresee any issues with 24GB as long as they are stable, if you are just doing video editing and VM stuff (assuming you have storage off your OS drive) it won't be the end of the world if you get an error once in a blue moon.

[kaidomac]

There was a study done by someone(I want to say Google) and they tested ECC versus non-ECC memory to determine how much ECC really mattered. It was something in the ball park of 1 bit swap every 3months of 24x7 usage. They attributed his to cosmic rays. What was very interesting was that you'd think that if you doubled the amount of memory you'd end up with twice the number of bits swapped, but that wasn't the case. The change was statistically insignificant.

LOL that's great!

[kaidomac]

Well now. It sure got quiet in here lol.

Dude on newegg says this is stable for him. 24GB at 2050Mhz. I'm Impressed. If its truly stable.
Other Thoughts: 24GB Ripkaws @ 2050mHz
i7 920 @ 4.5gHz
WS Revolution @ 232 BCLK
OCZ 60GB Vertex X 4 RAID0
Asus 5970 X 2 QuadFire
PC P&C 1200W
3 X 1920X1200 Displays

Yowza! Wondering what kind of cooling that puppy has...

[kaidomac]

I don't foresee any issues with 24GB as long as they are stable, if you are just doing video editing and VM stuff (assuming you have storage off your OS drive) it won't be the end of the world if you get an error once in a blue moon.

Yeah, have a secondary RAID with nightly backup to a NAS. Stability is, of course, the main concern. I'm coming from a rock-solid Q9550 system @ 3.2GHz, so as long as I can at least match that with the 920, I'll be somewhat happy

I'm still surprised at how much faster the system feels with the 920 at stock over my Q9550 @ 3.2, even with half the RAM...I didn't think I'd notice much difference, aside from crunching and VM's, but it's really made a nice difference...

[kaidomac]

Still on the 4GB 1333. OC is at 4.11GHz stable, haven't pushed it higher yet. I like this RAM So my debate:

1. Go 12GB 1333 (3 x 4GB) - add two more sticks
2. Go 24GB 1333 (6 x 4GB) - add five more sticks
3. Go 24GB 1600 (6 x 4GB) - swap current ram to six sticks of 1600

I'm really liking having a 4GHz "octo"...

[kaidomac]

Digging up an old thread here -

Went with 6 x 4GB DDR3-1600 from G.Skill (Ripjaw series, $135 per stick) and it overclocks like a champ to 4.0Ghz on the MSI X58 Pro-E board with all 24GB onboard. Just did a simple 191 multipler to 4.02-ish and everything is great. Stable & runs fairly cool. Happiness achieved