Gigabyte and their memory issues

[kpowers]

One of the key selling points that got me was A. I was going to run an AM3 processor with DDR3 and B. I was going to be able to run my memory at 2000 mhz.  The funny thing is that up until a couple months ago the gigabyte web site still had the memory chart up claiming that their mbs could still run memory at 2000 mhz +.  Now i find the forums and find that I'm luck to atleast get 1600 mhz.  This is going to be the last gigabyte product I will buy.

Ken

My System: Vista 64 Utimate CPU: AMD Phenom II 965 BE, MoBo: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H, PSU: Estasis 850 Watt, Memory: Kingston and G.Skill DDR3-1600 x 8GB, GPU: Dual XFX HD5770s , Hds: 2 x Maxtor 500 gig SATA 2, Sound: Integerated Realtek Hidef Audio.

[absic]

Hi there,

Don't blame Gigabyte, blame AMD and the AM3 Architecture.
You can run RAM at 2000MHz on some boards as advertised, but you will need to use only two sticks of RAM (1 per memory channel) and be prepared for the memory controller, that is built into the AMD CPU's not the motherboards, to give up the ghost. As with all things, when it comes to overclocking, you do so at your own risk.

[Dave76]

Sorry to hear you're disappointed, but as absic mentioned, it's not a Gigabyte issue it's an AMD issue.

All motherboards have the same situation as this is due to the AMD memory controller being integrated on the CPU.

Always research before buying.
Searching 'AMD DDR3 2000MHz' will get you a lot of answers.

[pcb-plus]

hi
as said above this is not a gigabyte issue and it is not just limited to amd either as we have had simular issues with intel systems.

it stems from the fact that the only recognised standards for ddr3 are 1066 and 1333 so all cpu's are made for these speeds of ram we have had systems running with ram speed in excess of 2000mhz but it takes time, effort and research to get these speeds with stability

[Niffler]

Some people are having great success with the G-Skill "Flare" memory. This apparently is designed specifically for the AMD platform. However as previously stated the IMC on the processor might not like it for too long. As with most things if you push to hard they break. Good luck.