While I have not messed with 8gb Dimms in an SR-2 I can say that there are some tradeoffs involved with doing so.
 
For one larger capacity Dimms typically have heavier timings, however for overclocking on the SR-2 or any board for that matter, the less Dimms you have the better the chance for stability(mainly due to the IMC or Integrated Memory Controller on the CPU, having less stress on it) especially when the SR-2 has a tricky wall to overcome above 200mhz Bclk.  But with higher capacity Dimms you can get your wanted amount of RAM with less Dimms therefor letting you have a better shot at reaching your wanted OC on the system.

That could be because people looking to run 8gb dimms for 96gb are doing workstation and server type setups with the SR2 where they are looking to get the PCIe lanes that the SR2 offers.  That would be my guess as fully populated dimm slots would really strain the IMCs during OC.

FWIW 8GB ECC 1333 Mac Pro "Mid-2010" are popular and there are 16GB as well. 
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory#1333-memory
 
 

 I was (just) (trying) mistakenly it seems, point to some ECC memory. 
 
"Mac" memory? they are ECC. And yes,  tested to work which is nice to know, no need to worry. Certified. For use with Skulltrail platform as far as I can tell, so sure the SR has its differences and BIOS firmware. You are the one making up that OWC jacks price or something in the name of compatibility - that sounds like a cheap shot to me. They work. If you have a Mac Pro. Which may be something to be said rather than the problems and issues with reboots, not showing up properly and other issues. 
 
I thought they were very affordable (8GB) . Only 'saying' Apple workstation does support 16GB but Apple doesn't and OS X has been limited to 96GB, plus Apple's own RAID controller panics when there is more than 48GB.
 
At one time I considered the SR-2 rather than my next Mac, even when not running Mac OS. 

scsi2man .... What you mostly buy when you buy the Mac is the apple name, nothing more, and that it also "looks pretty" as well. Personally I'm going to stick to buying the Kingstons or the Crucials and use the extra money for other upgrades, but if you want to spend extra for your Mac memory, so be it.

 
 

I could not have written that much better myself, thanks you just made my day
 
Henrik

Deggg

scsi2man 
The only thing I notice with using 8GB sticks is that sometimes it takes a few times for the board to actually get to the POST screen. Once it does, however, when reset it will POST perfectly every time. Every once in a while it won't see all the ram, so I just restart it and usually the second time it sees it all.

That doesn't sound stable at all to me!

It seems kind of.. troublesome.. to me that this board was released but no memory compatibility list for it was put up on the site.

 
Actually the system is very stable. Keep in mind it is not supposed to "officially" support 96GB. I have an Areca raid card that makes a loud beep every time the computer boots up or is reset. Usually it takes 2 or 3 "beeps" or attempts to get it to actually POST, but it always does. Sometimes when it does POST it may see only 88GB or on occasion, only 80. Pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL solves that problem and then it sees the full 96GB. Once in Windows, this system will run perfectly for days, even weeks. I try to reboot it at least once per week. When I do choose to reboot it, it POSTs right away and sees all of the ram. When I went on a vacation and left the system up and running for 3 weeks, when I returned, it was still stable with no issues or problems.
 
Considering the complexity of this board and the fact that no one has ever attempted it with this particular chipset aside from the fact that Asus has made a few server/workstation boards that DO overclock (though they are much older and a different chipset by comparison) and Intel made the Skulltrail board, just that it works as well as it does is impressive to me. When you consider the number of people who post in these forums requesting help or advice for this board, I'd have to consider my system one of the most stable overall. It handles everything I throw at it and I have found what I consider the sweet spot for me and that is 4 GHZ. I've been able to go higher, but it runs a bit on the warm side to suit me.
 
Now when I had 48GB in here it posted every time but occasionally didn't see all of the memory, and that was nothing that a quick CTRL-ALT-DEL couldn't fix.  I suppose if you wanted to compare this type of system to that of a car, I think a drag racer would be appropriate. Those high end racing cars while incredibly powerful and fast, do occasionally encounter problems such as the engine blowing or oil leaking or even overrevving it. Still with tinkering, they are either able to replace or rebuild it each time save a terrible crash or explosion. A system built with this board is like that. If you push it too hard, you may have to tinker with it to get it to work again, or even move some stuff around. I've certainly done my share of tinkering of this system, and I feel I've got it just the way I want it. I could push it further, but as fast and stable as it already is, sometimes it is better to just leave things alone. As I am a person who enjoys a challenge, for me to own and have a system such as this demonstrates my desire to be different and do something daring as other people who have this board also share. I hope that my knowledge and experience along with others can help those who want to push themselves to the limits of building a system.

bike_chou

Do anyone use the Wintek 48GB(8GBx6)?
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161562

And the memory configuration is 512x6.Kingston is 512x4.What is the difference

I'm not sure where you see 512 x 6 and 512 x 4. Can you be more specific about what memory you are comparing it to? 

Kingston datasheet for KVR1333D3Q8R9S/8G
w ww.valueram.com/datasheets/KVR1333D3Q8R9S_8G.pdf

scsi2man
Actually the system is very stable. Keep in mind it is not supposed to "officially" support 96GB. I have an Areca raid card that makes a loud beep every time the computer boots up or is reset. Usually it takes 2 or 3 "beeps" or attempts to get it to actually POST, but it always does.
 

 

scsi2man
Now when I had 48GB in here it posted every time but occasionally didn't see all of the memory, and that was nothing that a quick CTRL-ALT-DEL couldn't fix.
  

 
Interesting to see you have the same issues I had when using 96gb ECC.. 3 beeps then post.. I haven't tried too much overclocking my 5690's & 96gb especially after I found out the memory down-clocked with all slots full, so I pulled 48gb out and settled for 1333 10-10-10 timing's @ stock 5690 speed.
 
Care to share your bios settings for stable overclocked 96gb? I've just built a mATX x79 using an ES E5-2670 and my SR-2 is slowly falling out of favour, even more so after I discovered yesterday that it doesn't support SLI Quadro's  - Tried 2 x Quadro 6000's + Tesla C2050 last night
 
Also just to confirm I've tried PC8500 and PC10600 ECC 16gb DIMM's but they didn't don't work :-(

echrei

I am using non-ECC RAM currently and am planning to upgrade to 24GB of RAM. Would I notice any difference using ECC  or registered RAM?

 
That depends on if you use ECC non registered or ECC Registered. The ECC Registered does add one cycle of latency due to the register on the stick. ECC registered is recommended only if stability is of utmost importance. It is generally more expensive than non ecc memory, but lately the prices for both have been fluctuating a lot. Since you are already using non ECC memory, I would suggest you stick with that as it would be the least expensive option at this point. As far as I know and have tested, the non ECC non registered 8GB sticks do not work in this board. I have only been able to get the ECC registered 8GB sticks to work in this board. The 8GB non ECC sticks will work in the newer Sandy Bridge boards, however. As far as memory expansion, it also depends on if you use 4GB sticks, or 2GB sticks, and how many slots you use. If you aren't planning to go above 48GB, I suggest going with 4GB non ECC sticks. Depending on how high you plan to overclock (if you do) I'd go with the 1600 or 1866 sticks. You can find lots of them on Newegg, which is where I have bought most of my memory. 

I have already got 4GB sticks. So I have decided to be happy with 12 x 4GB sticks for the moment and wait and hunt for a real good deal for 8GB sticks.

echrei

scsi2man
That depends on if you use ECC non registered or ECC Registered. The ECC Registered does add one cycle of latency due to the register on the stick. ECC registered is recommended only if stability is of utmost importance. It is generally more expensive than non ecc memory, but lately the prices for both have been fluctuating a lot. Since you are already using non ECC memory, I would suggest you stick with that as it would be the least expensive option at this point. As far as I know and have tested, the non ECC non registered 8GB sticks do not work in this board. I have only been able to get the ECC registered 8GB sticks to work in this board. The 8GB non ECC sticks will work in the newer Sandy Bridge boards, however. As far as memory expansion, it also depends on if you use 4GB sticks, or 2GB sticks, and how many slots you use. If you aren't planning to go above 48GB, I suggest going with 4GB non ECC sticks. Depending on how high you plan to overclock (if you do) I'd go with the 1600 or 1866 sticks. You can find lots of them on Newegg, which is where I have bought most of my memory.  

So people have tried RAM kits such as the following with the SR-2 and they do not work? I was looking at keeping it to 3 DIMMs per CPU since I didn't want to incur the memory multiplier reduction. This would require 8GB DIMMs if I wanted to move to 48GB.

http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16820231359

 
I'm not sure what you mean by the memory multiplier reduction. That does not occur with the 5600 series xeons, only the 5500 series. If you put more than 1 dimm per channel on a 5500 series xeon it will downclock. But you can have 2 per channel on the 5600 series and it won't downclock. So this memory multiplier situation you are referring to only exists with the 5500 series xeons. I have referenced for you from Intel's own website about the additions that the 5600 series xeons have over the 5500 series.
http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/products/server/intelligentxeon/440799.htm
 
So as you can see, people claiming that 2 dimms per channel will downclock is not exactly accurate. For the 5500 series, yes. I run my memory with the 1333 memory strap and it runs it perfectly. And at the default bclk of 133, my memory runs at 1333. But since I've overclocked it to 160, it runs at 1600.  I've also tried and have used regular non-ecc non-registered ddr3 1600, 1866, and 2000 memory in both channels per cpu and have NOT experienced any downclocking at at all. The dimms I used were from Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, Gskill, Samsung, and Hynix. Also, if you read the motherboard manuals from various manufacturers on their boards that use the 5520 chipset like this board, you will also find in the documentation  that 2 dimms per channel do not downclock the memory.
 
One of the other 5520 based boards I've used is the Supermicro X8DA3, X8DAi, and X8DAH+. If you look  on pages 2-8 and 2-9 of the manual for this board, you will find that it explains very thoroughly the memory arrangement for both the 5500 and 5600 series xeons. 
http://www.supermicro.com/manuals/motherboard/5500/MNL-1031.pdf
 
You will find using the same non-ecc non-registered ddr3 sticks in this board will give you the identical memory configurations to the SR-2. How do I know? I've tried them and have done it on numerous occasions when I have tested memory for both boards. 
 
http://www.supermicro.com/manuals/motherboard/5500/MNL-1060.pdf
You will find though on the motherboards that have 18 memory slots instead of 12, that when you have 3 dimms per channel for the 5600 series it WILL downclock the memory. For this, I reference pages 2-10, 2-11, and 2-12 of the X8DAH+ manual listed above as MNL-1060.pdf. There you will also find the same information as stated in the manual above with the exception of the addition of a 3rd memory slot configuration. 
 
This is also true of the Asus Z8PE-D12 as I own that board as well. Same scenario as with the EVGA and Supermicro boards: 2 dimms per channel for the 5600 series xeons does NOT downclock the memory if it is single or dual rank. If it is QUAD rank, then it will downclock for 2 dimms per channel. But being that I have not seen regular DDR3 that is quad rank, I don't see where this would be an issue. 
Because all these boards have the same chipsets, they also follow the same rules for memory arrangement as far as dimms per channel goes. I suggest for those that are having issues with the memory to make sure they are supported. While ECC Registered memory generally is not particularly good at overclocking, you can still overclock your motherboard should you choose to use them by simply changing the memory divider from 1333 to 1066, and from there you can increase the bclk while still keeping your memory within rated spec. Once again, it all depends on what memory you use and from which manufacturer. Hope this helps.

echrei

scsi2man

echrei
So people have tried RAM kits such as the following with the SR-2 and they do not work? I was looking at keeping it to 3 DIMMs per CPU since I didn't want to incur the memory multiplier reduction. This would require 8GB DIMMs if I wanted to move to 48GB.

http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16820231359

I'm not sure what you mean by the memory multiplier reduction. That does not occur with the 5600 series xeons, only the 5500 series…

Oh, awesome. I remember people saying there was a reduction when the board first came out and never really looked into it since. That’s good news. I’ll probably go with 12x 4GB DIMMs since 4GB are the best value currently. That way I can get to 48GB for only about $300. 

I meant to link a pack with 8GB DIMMs above but instead linked a kit which I assume would work for this current plan. Mushkin Enhanced Redlines @1866 would be about $80 more. I currently have Corsair Dominator memory. Do you have any opinion on Mushkin, G.Skill, or any other of the brands?

 
That's one of the problems with a lot of the people on these sites. They ask questions but don't bother to do any kind of research and expect everyone else to do it for them. I do, however, enjoy doing research and prefer to be thorough before I end up committing to something. I personally have used Crucial, Kingston, and Corsair the most, but prefer Crucial and Kingston. Gskill is one of the newer ones I've used in computers I've built for others and they have been very happy with it. I mainly use Crucial and Kingston because of their testing methods and compatibility. If you are currently using the Corsair, stick with that. But what it comes down to is really preference. Any of those brands will work. But from my experience, Crucial and Kingston have never let me down, so I stick with them. And since on my main system I don't overclock beyond about 160, I don't see the point into going to extreme memory. In the past when I overclocked on other systems I build for myself, I went with Crucial or Corsair. I reserved Kingston for my workstations or servers, and eventually chose to go with Crucial since I've had the best luck and experience with them. Back when I had a Skulltrail motherboard with the Fully Buffered ECC DDR2 800 memory, I found that of all the ones I could overclock, the Crucials could handle it the best. I also found that when I ran them on other boards that needed that type of memory, they tended to run cooler than other models. And when I put Crucials in some of my newer systems and even to this one, they seem to run cooler and I don't encounter any stability problems. But don't get the idea that Kingston or any of those other brands are not up to par. I've used Kingstons, Corsair, and GSkill in literally hundreds of systems and have found the failure rate to be the lowest with the Crucials with the Kingstons second. But like all things, at some point you'll probably end up with a bad one and then you just replace it under warranty. 
 
Should you choose to expand your system to 96GB, you should probably go with the ECC Registered Crucials, or the newer DDR3 1600 ECC Registered from Kingston. Either will serve you well.

echrei

scsi2man, Thank you for your detailed and thought out responses. I like to hear the opinions and experiences with others using different brands. I like to research things as much as possible before I purchase them as well. I have probably been using Crucial memory the longest and can't remember ever having a problem with it. It's what I use most often when upgrading other peoples' computers. I've just never really thought of it as "high performance memory." From what you've said, it seems like I will probably go with Crucial. Have you used any Crucial memory from their Ballistix lines?

 
Yes, I have used them in other computers and have not had any issues with them. You plug them in and it works. I've read reviews where some people have had issues, especially on newegg. However, when I read those reviews, I feel it can be attributed to user error, since some of those people who build those systems don't do proper research to verify if it is compatible or not. Or some don't understand that even though it is rated for 1600 or 1866 or even 2000, it won't run at that at default depending on the board. So if the board is 1366 based using the x58 chipset and the default memory speed is 1066 (which is default for most of the 900 series) they will complain the memory is not working right because it "only works at 1066." They don't bother to do research and realize that that is the stock speed of the board and that the higher speeds are attainable through overclocking. But like on these forums, people don't do their research, and as a result, then blame the products instead of themselves for their own stupidity. I can genuinely understand if someone makes an honest mistake and missed a minor detail, hell, I've done it myself a few times, but when they have problems because they did not read or do any research on what they bought, well, that just proves how stupid and lazy they are. I do read reviews of products on websites, and I read forums a lot. But I also keep an eye on how familiar someone is with the product they are reviewing or talking about. If they seem to know what they are talking about, I give them a lot more credibility then someone who is very vague and says "This product sucks because it doesn't work the way I want it to" without elaborating or explaining exactly what they did.  
 
Only once did I make a big mistake and bought a board because one review said it was good. I didn't bother to read the other reviews. That board was the Soyo Dragon Plus. That thing was total junk. I could not get it stable no matter what I tried. It just didn't want to work. Soyo tech support was useless. At the time I had other systems to build, so I took the board, smashed it over my leg, and shipped it back to Soyo. Told them it got "damaged en route" and never heard from them again. Not that I would have expected to. It's no wonder they no longer exist. From that point on, I wanted to make sure that I was a lot more thorough. I admit I'm interested in the SR-X and the Asus Z9PE-D8 WS boards, however, because of the inability to overclock, I am very hesitant. I am hoping that Intel will reconsider and make xeons that can overclock a lot better, like they did when they made the QX9775 processors. When I finally decided to go with this board, the SR-2, I had researched it since it had just come out. I spent many months reading the forum on here, and on other sites as well. I read lots of reviews on it as well, and finally decided to make the plunge. Best decision I ever made. I've been extremely happy with this board. But before I bought it, I made sure that everything I was going to put into it would work. I did lots of extensive testing as well. If you think it took me a few hours to get this thing stable at 160, you'd be wrong. I spent several days with all different settings trying to find the right combination to use, as well as taking other people's settings under advisement.  Finally I got it to where I encountered no crashes and no major issues, aside from the occasional need to CTRL-ALT-DEL so it would see all the ram. I can run this board for weeks at a time without a reboot and never a single crash. I wonder how many others out there can say the same. 

Where did you get them at a bargain price :)?