Question about the i7 960 3.4 ghz proccessor

[jack_morrison]

I have recently purchased an i7 960 proccesor and a Gigabyte X58 G1 Sniper Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard. This is part of my next system upgrade and i was wondering if i can use my old DDR3 1600mhz ram or do i have to upgrade to the i7 kit ram. im hoping that i can use this old ram till next month when i can afford to get 24 giggs of the newer ram

Thanks for all answers in advance
Jack

 

[MindoverMaster]

You will never need 24GB of RAM. 4-8GB is enough.

You can use your RAM, yes.

 

[jack_morrison]

thanks for the quick reply, yer i wont proberly ever use 24 giggs of ram, but its one of those things really isnt it people dont need fast cars to get them from a to b, but they get them anyway. i gues i just wanna max out my rigg to its max potential

but its great that i can save up a bit first as im a little skint rofl, spesh with christmas comming up
Jack

 

[Roark]

I wouldn't really compare 24GB of RAM to a fast car, its more like having 24 cars.
While its nifty to say "I have 24 cars", the vast majority will sit around unused.
Like MoM said, you'll only have 4-8 cars at most you'll ever use, the other 16-20 will sit in a garage collecting dust.

 

[Slaymate]

The i7 960 is a triple channel CPU. Or it has a triple channel memory controller. You'll want to install memory in sets of 3, as in, 3GB (3x1GB) - 6GB (6x1GB) or (3x2GB) - 12GB (6x2GB) or (3x4GB) - 24GB (6x4GB).

6GB (3x2GB) would be my recommendation.

 

[jack_morrison]

thanks for the information on the i7, i was wondering exactly how the triple channel worked, is it compulsary to install ram in sets of three or is tht for maximim performance?

 

[Yami]

It's not compulsory, it's just for max performance.