Z87-G45 questions about memory upgrade with an extra RAM KIT

[hardinoto]

Dear forum members,

I've noted that on top of my standaard activated programs some app's and games almost all of my amount of RAM (2x4GB) is full used while little data cached, which results in too many swapping and little hickups.
For example, while playing COD AW, my SSD activity LED is constantly active (almost on  ). Correct me if i'm wrong, but likely some extra RAM could bring this to a minimum. My standaard actived programs cunsumes between 3,5-4,5GB (office, internetbrowser, downloading, monitoringprograms, media server, anti-virus etc.) so freeing up RAM by closing this programs is the last i wanna do.

So right now i'm considering to put an extra RAM KIT (kit of 2) of the same type. At this moment my PC is equiped with a kit (2 DIMMS) of Crucial Ballistix Tracers 2x4GB 1866Mhz 9-9-9-27 running @1T and full compatible with the Z87-G45 GAMING according to Crucial. Crucial code is BLT2KIT4G3D1869DT2TXOB.

Further the PC is running without any problems, so far very satisfied with my MSI products. I've read that 2 stick for dual channel is the best / recommended setup for guaranteed stability and to achive a tiny higher overclock, but i an upgrade with 2 extra sticks 2x4GB will cost me less than a new 2x8GB kit and the kits i have are just 1 jar old. So i first wanna consider the option with an extra kit. I just wanna know the riscs and limitations.

My questions are:
1: at what memory speed MSI (Z87-G45 GAMING) ensures stable operation with all DIMM socket populated? This motherboard has 4 DIMM sockets so i assume it can.
2: can the Z87-G45 GAMING handle 4x4GB RAM sticks / all DIMM sockets populated with DDR3-1866MHZ?
3: in AIDA64 i see by the XMP profile of my current DIMMS noted: recommended DIMM per channel: 1. What this exactly mean?
Cant i run a 4x4GB setup with this DIMM kit at XMP speed, even not on lower HAswell speed?

Further more i will really appreciated if anyone with this motherboard with all DIMM slots populated share their experience (good/bad)

Greetings and many thanks in advance

 

[darkhawk]

1. This will vary from board to board and with various memory kits. I would imagine that it should still be able to do 1866 MHZ assuming you got memory close to the same specs as your current memory, or maybe even another set of that same memory.
2. It should be able to handle all 4 sockets being populated.
3. I don't have an answer for you at this time in relation to this question.

 

[hardinoto]

@ first thanks for your input darkhawk.

1. This will vary from board to board and with various memory kits. I would imagine that it should still be able to do 1866 MHZ assuming you got memory close to the same specs as your current memory, or maybe even another set of that same memory.

My plan is to stick an extra kit of the same brand/type as my currents sticks. I assume this will give the most stability and compatibility, but finally it will not be a "factory matched kit of 4" so i'm little worried about this. But if i'm not mistaken the 4770K supports officially till 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM? So eventually downclocking the speed of all 4 DIMMS to 1600Mhz (with tighter timings according DIMM SPD) officially should / must work?

 

[Nichrome]

Hi,
I can add my 2 cents into this.

I was running 16GB of Corsair 1600MHz (rated max speed, 4x4GB) RAM on exactly same board. I had them running easily at 2133MHz and without any issues (make note that I mixed 2 kits together  ). So in my opinion you should not have any issues running at least 1866MHz as long as it doesn't crash due to the mixing of your memory.

Downclocking to 1600MHz or even 1333MHz doesn't mean it has to work. If it's mixed, no matter what, it may or may not work, just about luck in this case.
Also your RAM is not 1600MHz minimum but (AFAIK) will run at 1333MHz by default, and if you would like to change the speeds then you can enable XMP or manually change value to higher speeds.
And yes, official max speed for Haswell is 1600MHz and anything above is OC which is not guaranteed by MSI, Intel or RAM manufacturer.
The fact that MSI states that board is able to run at even 3000MHz also tells it was OC'ed.

 

[hardinoto]

@ Nichrome: Also thanx for your input  .

You all has pull me over the line to get another kit and that happened today.
And for information also to other forum members, i want to share my findings gearing the Z87-G45 GAMING up with 2 kits of 2x4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracers B/O, which makes it 4x4GB total, all DIMM slot populated.

In one word...amazing combination!. Installation without any problems, nor in bios, windows and the Crucial MOD-utility.. Just Plug-N-play  . ,

The DIMMs are running according the specifications with XMP profile @1866Mhz, 1,5V, 9-9-9-27 and manually set to CR1 instead of CR2.
No negative impact on stability on my overclock as with just 1 kit. Plus according to some AIDA64 benchmarks is seems now a little faster (+1,5%  ) and for sure all feels so much smooter, even on just light office duties. Seems like now most is cached on RAM instead of swapfile (now barely 300MB all time).

Playing COD AW now without a hickup  . Continue swapping on SSD is now drastically decreased!

Ive not run a memtest yet, but already stress my pc with my own realworld multitasking stresstest, all simultanious:
- main workload a batch video converting task of 4x DVD ISO's to x264 MKV, taking almost 1 hour. ISO's spreaded on different HD's. Converting with Mediacoder  on CPU based making alone all cores/thread @ full 99,9%
In the mean time:
- webbrowsing with Chrome, 10-12 pages open
- downloading at full speed
- MS office programs tasks
- Listen music digital via SPDIF to home audio set, playlist consict of various format (mp3, aac, flac), spreaded on HDD and also an external USB3 hdd
- during converting switching between all of the above and so far without problems, lockups or crashes.

Till now and hopefully it stay this way, i'm very satisfied with this product of MSI and Crucial and once again, also thanks to the forummembers 

Big greetings!

 

[Nichrome]

Glad to hear it works