Running 12GB of DDR3 Triple Channel Memory on Intel Core i7 Platforms

Overclocking 12GB of Memory

Going for the highest clock frequency is always fun, but with 12GB of memory I wanted to make sure it was also stable.

The highest clock frequency that I was able to get rock solid was 1700MHz with 8-8-8-24 1T timings at 1.6V.

This frequency boost improved throughput to 30.59GB/Sec, which is great as I was finally able to break the 30GB/Sec mark while running 12GB of memory.

The system was also Prime 95 stable at these settings! I let the system run Prime 95 overnight last night and it is still running today, so I would call this a nice stable overclock.

In case you are curious what the highest unstable speed that I was able to reach was, I figured I’d include this one last CPU-Z shot showing the system running 12GB of memory at 1800MHz with 8-8-8-24 1T timings with just 1.60V.

The system could be benchmarked with 12GB of memory 1800MHz at CL8 timings, but it wasn’t stable in Prime 95 or during gaming. I jumped online and was playing Left 4 Dead on the system and it crashed about 15 minutes into gaming. Seeing 12GB of memory running this fast with these agressive timings was beyond what I expected, so this is a success if you ask me. I tried relaxing the timings to CL9 and added more voltage to the Samsung based modules, but they seemed to hit a brick wall at 1800MHz. With that said though, how many people can say they have run 32.34GB/Sec of throughput at 1800MHz with 12Gb of memory!