Memory DIMM slot install order

Question

Building my first server and have a small question that I'm unsure of! We've purchased an X3650 M3 server, with 2 processors and 8 DIMMS of memory.

Now I am unsure of the memory installation for 2 processors. The server has 2 banks of memory slots, 1 set next to each processor. In the instructions, it has the order in which memory should be installed. The table looks a bit like this:

Microprocessor #     DIMM Slot Install Order
--------------------------------------------------------
        1            3, 6, 9, 2, 5, 8, 2, 4, 7
        2            12, 15, 18, 11, 14, 17, 10, 13, 16

Now, I have 8 DIMMS of memory. Is the table saying "if you have 1 microprocessor, use this the installation order of 3, 6, 9 etc, if you have 2 microprocessors, use the order of "12, 15, 18 etc"...

or is it saying that you separate the memory per processor (so perhaps 4 dimms of memory in each bank).

I hope thats not too confusing to understand!

Answer 1

I recently outfitted 2 3550M3s.

The system will use 4 DIMMs per CPU. That means insert DIMMs in slots 3, 6, 9, 2, 12, 15, 18 and 11.

It makes a little more sense if you notice that physically the slots for CPU #2 are "backwards" from CPU #1.