Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

need help with memory for xeon 2670

Mar 6, 2016 12:32PM PST

I just purchased an MSI X99A SLI Plus motherboard intending to put an 5820K processor in it but had the opportunity to purchase a Xeon 2670 with 12 cores cheaply. However, I'm not sure whether the application I use (blender) will be able to make use of all 12 cores so it might be that I try it and then sell it again and go back to the original plan of a 5820K instead. So ideally I would like to buy memory that will work with both chips.

First of all my motherboard only supports DDR4 so I'm clear with that. But I've read that the 2600 Xeons only support 2133 Registered memory. If this is the case, can this memory work whith the 5820K processor should I wish to swap?

Second question is how many modules should I buy to get the best performance. I've read that I should fill all my memory slots if using a xeon processor otherwise it might significantly hindered with memory bandwidth. Can anyone know confirm that this is the case? My motherboard has 8 memory slots and I don't really want to fill all of them if I can help it (I only need a maximum of 32 GB and don't really want to buy 8 4GB modules.

Many thanks

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Re: RAM
Mar 6, 2016 12:53PM PST

The motherboard determines both what CPU's are supported and what RAM. So better have a look at the user manual or fact sheet on the MSI site.

Most motherboard perform best with an even number of equal RAM sticks in the right slots. Here also: see the manual or check at crucial.com.

The system requirements for the program you use at https://www.blender.org/download/requirements give 8 GB as recommended and 16 GB as optimal (production-grade). So it's not clear where your 32 GB comes from.

- Collapse -
reply
Mar 6, 2016 1:03PM PST

Very little is said either on MSI website or in the manual about processor support (not a mention of any processor!) and no mention of registered or unregistered memory!! (on my do list to email them as well).

I know about even numbers of memory slots use but as I believe xeons require a little more attention to memory which I know nothing about but think it's more than just having an even number.

The memory used by blender will depend on the size of your simulation and can go over 16 GB.

- Collapse -
Answer
Ram
Mar 6, 2016 9:43PM PST

The 5820k and the 2670 v3 support ddr4@2133 ram.

The mobo supports ddr4@2133 ram...un-buffered/non-ecc.
The mobo supports quad channel.

Your looking for a ddr4 4x8GB@2133 kit.

Just be sure to fit the ram in the proper slots to enable the quad channel.

- Collapse -
Ram
Mar 6, 2016 11:33PM PST

Hi

As I understand it the 2670 will only work with buffered/Registered ram which I believe the board supports as well. What I'm not sure of is will the 5820k work with buffered/Registered ram or will I have to buy two different types of ram to compare the two processors?

- Collapse -
Ram
Mar 7, 2016 8:43AM PST
- Collapse -
RAM
Mar 8, 2016 12:34PM PST

Many thanks, that's great.