GA-970A-UD3 + 8gb RAM stick

[360freq]

hello ~
planning now for a new pc build that will include the GA-970A-UD3 mobo, AMD FX-6100 and 16gb of DDR3 (2x 8gb sticks).  eventually i'll run Win 7 64-bit , but for now i must use XP 32-bit.

*can the GA-970A-UD3 run a 32-bit system using only a single 8gb stick of memory? 

of course it will access 3.2gb max and run in single channel mode.  however, purchasing 4 x 4gb of memory will hinder me from adding more memory in the future for the Adobe CS suite and other apps.

-- thanks for replies..

[Vezina]

Just install the dual channel kit to have full performance ,not one stick.
The system will access only 4 Gigs of the full amount.
Windows will use 3+ Gigs while the components (video card controllers)l use the rest to 4 Gigs at BIOS level.
It will work  with XP 32 bit ,but keep in mind you will install XP in IDE Mode ,there is no floppy.

You can additionally do a dual boot with Linux Mint ,Mandriva or Kubuntu at 64 bit.
Adobe works with 4 Gigs.

[autotech]

As you are planning to upgrade to windows 7 i personaly would do the 1 stick of 8 gig BUT big but to,  for good performance of windows 7 you need to hace a 2 x 8 gig ram in the same kit.  Mix and match doesnt work so well.

Also as vezina stated you wont get good performance with 1 stick of 8 gig with windows xp. So you can buy a dual channel kit of 8 gig and use 1 stick till you upgrade to windows 7 then you can just add the other stick. I know you wil have a stick laying around till you install windows 7 but that way the ram matches.

I would just get windows 7 at 64 bit and use both sticks you will like it alot better i know you say all you have is windows xp now but windows 7 isnt expensive.  I have 5 spare copy's of windows 7  for just in case.