Aurora R8, RAM slots, service manual

Question

I think there is an errata with the documentation for memory slots in the R8 motherboard. In the service manual, it states to use slots XMM1 and XMM2 for dual memory modules. Here's the board layout per the service manual This means for 2x8GB RAM, I should have installed it in the slots labelled 4 and 5, which I did. Everything worked fine, 16GB memory appeared and XMP1 @ 3200MHz was flawless... Until I checked on CPU-Z. Memory channel # = 1! To add to the confusion, I bought a Ballistix Kit from online retailer where the kit part number and module part number are different. Since it was before customer service hours, I tried unplugging the module from slot 5 and plugged it into slot 6 (XMM3). Voila! Dual channel detected. I doubt I can trace the board traces from the slots to the LGA1151 socket as most of these PCBs are multilayered with some traces hidden from the naked eye. So just based on observation that plugging in modules based on the service manual didn't yield the correct result, I do hope that Dell can comment on this. @Alienware-Eimy ? Thanks.

Tesla1856 · Accepted Answer

Yes, it appears that PCB layout image still has mis-labelled items.

Dell was notified of this error back on the Aurora-R6 Manual. Looks like it never got fixed.

The Primary RAM Bank is comprised of the two "white tabbed" dimm slots

XMM1 and XMM2 (as written on the motherboard itself).

Fill them both 100% compatible and exactly-matching DIMMs, and they will run in "Dual-Channel" as designed.

GTS81 · Answer

You are absolutely right. I searched for photos of people posting the guts of their R8 and looks like Dell assembly has them DRAMs in slots 1 & 3 so it's a case of 'do as I do, not as I say'.

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