I'm leaning towards a purchase of this CPU/MOBO combo:
- SUPERMICRO MBD-X9DRL-IF-B
- Xeon E5-2660 2.2GHz x 2 (if I think I can afford two...)
Background
I'm trying to figure out what kind of and how much RAM to get. I understand most of the implications of the particular processor I'm aiming to get, but I'm having some trouble understanding the manual, which I believe I found on SuperMicro's site. Though it doesn't speak to CPU or RAM type, this table on 2-12
(pdf p36) leads me to believe that I can use 1 processor with 4 DIMMS, so that's good:
And this quote indicates clearly that with my processor choice, I cannot use 1866 MHz memory:
1866 MHz memory speed is dependent on Intel E5-2600v2 CPUs
...so that's fine.
My Issue
However, the first table on page 2-14
(p38) is slightly confusing to me. I think my main issue is understanding some of the abbreviations and jargon used in the table (like "Ranks", "Data Width", and "Slots Per Channel", and how that matches or does not match to my possible RAM choice, below). The NA
values going down the columns, intersecting with Non-ECC
rows make me concerned for amount of RAM supported:
My questions, in the context of Non-ECC RAM, are:
- Is it saying I can only use 1333 MHz RAM with this processor?
- Can I use 4 sticks per installed CPU? or is there a limit of 2 per CPU?
I'm thinking 1333 MHz RAM is required, but can I use faster RAM (like 1666 MHz?)
2 Slots Per Channel
and3 Slots Per Channel
and I also see1DPC
and2DPC
, but I don't see "4 Slots Per Channel" or "4DPC", so is it2 Slots Per Channel
multiplied by2DPC
to get "4 dimms per processor" or something?!3 Slots Per Channel
multiplied by2DPC
) (obviously not possible because that configuration is indicated as invalid in the first table, but there are also only 8 DIMM slots on the board, so 12 is not even physically possible... :-/then why isn't it saying "6 dimms per processor"
- Because the motherboard can only support 8 modules in total, so it makes no sense, to list something that physically can't be done. I will be honest I don't understand the confusion. the motherboard only supports 64 GB of NON-ECC memory, which is what your question about, which means the highest capacity possible would be 8x8GB modules.