Sometimes, the norm just isn’t enough.  Take our video editing and rendering system for an example; we have already discussed our transition to an ultra-high-end storage system that included either a set of FOUR 600GB Velociraptor hard drives or a pair of 256GB SiliconEdge SSDs.  Now, after not a whole lot of discussion, the move from a 4GB allotment was necessary.  The goal: 16GB.

What do you do when you don't have enough memory? Upgrade to 16GB! - Memory 3

After looking around online I found some Corsair 4GB FB-DIMM DDR2-800 modules that fit the bill very nicely.  Our Intel Skulltrail motherboard only has four DIMM slots which is pretty low for a dual-processor platform so our configuration options were limited.  At this point it would seem this is about as far as the platform is going to be able to take us.

What do you do when you don't have enough memory? Upgrade to 16GB! - Memory 4

FB-DIMMs differ slightly from your normal memory in that they are Fully Buffered; FB-DIMMS integrate a memory buffer between the memory controller in the chipset and the actual memories as an additional interface.  This adds to the reliability and density the modules can support and is most frequently seen in servers and workstations.  It adds to cost and complexity, as well as boot times, so you hopefully won’t see it on consumer products anytime soon.

All we care about is getting 16GB of memory in our system to improve performance and limit the amount of times our machine needs to access that killer storage system…