First time X79

[Suberman]

I just recently got my first enthusiast components (even if it is a few years old) and I seem to be a bit stumped on the memory configuration.
I know that the board I have (DX79SI) is quad channel, so if I have 4x 8GB DIMMS I should run them in each channel on the first DIMM.

But what if I also have 2x 4GB, Can I put them in and still have quad channel benefit? What if I get another 2x 4GB and add them to each channel?
I don't need much more than 32GB but it would be nice to use these 4GB DIMMS but if it will degrade the performance or cost more then I'll rather sell them.

What do you think?

 

[RandomSheepZA]

You probably won't see any performance difference and also if the memory timings aren't the same this will cause issues.
I would stick with 4 sticks tbh. Just use slots 2 and 4 working away from the cpu on either side.

Oh and welcome to the cool kids club