What is recommended ram for GA-890FXA-UD5 / FX-6300 CPU ?

[SumGuy]

I have zero experience with understanding how DDR3 ram is spec'd, so I'm not sure if I should just buy the ram with "the highest number" like 1333 or 1600 or 1866 or 2133 or (well, you get the idea).

So, given this motherboard:  GA-890FXA-UD5 (rev 3.1)
and this cpu:  AMD six-core FX-6300

And given that I'm not real intent to over-clock this thing, but if I do, I don't want the ram to be the limiting factor, then what sort of ram should I get?

Should I get the ram in pairs (2 sticks) ?  Is 4 sticks better than 2 (for performance) ?

All I really want to put in this thing is 4 gb - maybe 4 1-gb sticks (do they make DDR3 in 1 gb sticks?)  But if I have to buy 2-gb sticks, then a pair of those is all I'm looking for (4 gb in total).

[DigDeep]

I have zero experience with understanding how DDR3 ram is spec'd, so I'm not sure if I should just buy the ram with "the highest number" like 1333 or 1600 or 1866 or 2133 or (well, you get the idea).

So, given this motherboard:  GA-890FXA-UD5 (rev 3.1)
and this cpu:  AMD six-core FX-6300

And given that I'm not real intent to over-clock this thing, but if I do, I don't want the ram to be the limiting factor, then what sort of ram should I get?

Should I get the ram in pairs (2 sticks) ?  Is 4 sticks better than 2 (for performance) ?

All I really want to put in this thing is 4 gb - maybe 4 1-gb sticks (do they make DDR3 in 1 gb sticks?)  But if I have to buy 2-gb sticks, then a pair of those is all I'm looking for (4 gb in total).

Its best to buy 1866mhz or 2133 mhz ram for FX processor. 1866mhz is FX max default speed. If you buy 2133mhz ram, you can set it to run at 1866mhz, and if you will overclock cpu, it will later easly run at 2133mhz or even at 2400mhz, it will run easier then 1600 or 1866mhz ram, because of the difference in mhz-s.

Other thing you should look for when buying ram, is timings. Its labeled as cl8, cl9 ,cl10 etc. Lower number, better performance(lower latency).

Yes, you should buy ram in pairs. 2x2gb or 2x4gb etc. Two or four sticks of ram will run in dual channel, while one or three sticks will run in single channel. So you should buy 2x2gb of ram, because Dual channel is better.

[dmdilks]

This what the CPU will support. This is right from AMD. Yes DigDeep is right that you can run higher memory, but to get it to run at those speeds you will have to over clock your CPU. Plus sometimes you will have to set the timings to get memory like 1600 & 1866 to run at those speed. Not all the time just some of the memory.

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