Want to add 6GB to UD4P i7 Rig but current memory discontinued.

[Wayno-san]

I have a GA-EX58-UD4P with an 920 i7 and 6GB of DDR3.  The 6GB of DDR3 currently in the system (OCZ OCZ3G1600LV6GK) is no longer produced and I'm not sure what type of memory I can safely add that will not conflict with the memory already installed.  The specs for the three sticks already in there are:

Speed
    DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Cas Latency
    8
Timing
    8-8-8-24
Voltage
    1.65V

I've been able to find different branded memory with the same specs but I noticed in the documentation for that motherboard that I should be using 1.5V memory.  I'm afraid that if I add another 3 sticks of 1.65V DDR3 I'm going to run into power issues.  I haven't had any problems to-date but as mentioned above I currently only have 3 sticks in there.

Does anyone know if it's OK to use 6 sticks of 1.65V memory in this motherboard?  If not, is it OK to mix 1.65V and 1.5V memory?

As a side note I'm also curious if you guys think if going from 6 to 12GB is a worthwhile upgrade, or if I'm better off spending the money elsewhere.  I mainly use this particular rig for gaming.

Thank you for the feedback.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte forum.

Well I will deal with your last point first. No the excersize is pointless if you are only using it for gaming. You won't find any extra performance benefits from upgrading to 12 GB. It would help for things like photo and video rendering etc.

To answer your other questions briefly you would need to sell your present memory modules and buy two sets of 3 sticks of matching modules or even better one matching kit of 6 modules.

[Wayno-san]

Yuck, that doesn't sound good.  Can anyone confirm if these have to be 1.5V or can they be 1.65V modules?  Seems like there are a lot more of the latter available on the market.  I'm wondering if the 1.5V was a typo in the installation manual.

I actually plan to do some light video editing soon because I recently purchased a GoPro HD for some of the outdoor activities that I do.

[Dark Mantis]

The 1.5v is not an error but that is the standard JEDEC has set out. The 1.65v is basically an overclock of that standard and is fine. You will probably have to set all your timings and voltages manually.

[Wayno-san]

Thank you very much.  I'll probably hold off on the additional memory until I start editing video and see if I start running short.  Will use the money to buy an SSD.

Regards

[Dark Mantis]

You will certainly see more of a performance increase from installing a SSD than more memory.