GA-X58a-UD3R RAM query

[Esinem]

I'm trying to get my PC sorted out as it's a bit of a mess. At present, it has a mish-mash of somewhat incompatible RAM,I am told, which the PC can't utilise properly. I'm also lead to understand that my i7 won't support RAM faster than 1333Mhz but have heard contrary views. I know nothing of these things and cast myself upon your mercy as it appears there are some smart folk here 

I'm trying to figure out what can, if any, be retained and what I need to get good performance for video editing (Premiere Pro editing HD video). XMP, over-clocking and so on are a dark art to me, so I seek enlightenment if it's not a massive can of worms.

Currently, it has:

Corsair XMS 3 6Gb kit (3 x 2Gb) CMX6GX3M3A1600C9
Corsair 16Gb (2 x 8Gb) CML 16GX3M2A1600C10 (Apparently, the board can only address 4gb chips? Oddly, Win 7 reported it all)

Advice in simple English much appreciated...imagine you are explaining to Homer Simpson's lightly more savvy brother 

[autotech]

I would put 4 x 4 gig sticks in it myself running at ddram3 1600.

First off limit of motherboard is 24 gigs that means it wont be good to put over 4 gig in a socket, you have done it so only you know how well it works.
If you stress the memory controller thru CPU you could damage either motherboard PCB or CPU but the choice is yours.

You wont see a lot of performance gains by going higher than 1600.


3.Support for DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules

1333 is guaranteed but 1600 runs good on that board and I i7 will let it run at 1600 easy. I have 4 x 4 gigs of 2400 on my board and they run fine if I overclock I turn them down to 1600 to reach a higher clock on CPU.

Here is memory support list if you want to look at it to get a better idea what to use.

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-x58a-ud3r_v2.0.pdf

[Esinem]

Thanks. Could I not use my 3 x 4gb to my 6gb kit or is it not ideally incompatible?

Yes, I did check the list before but as I can only see one 4Gb chip listed: 1600ghz Kingston KHX1600C9D3K3/12GX, I assumed it was pretty old and there might be a newer version with more 4gb chips. Could I add Kingston KHX1600C9D3K3/12GX with my existing 6Gb or should all chips be the same? Sorry for the stupid questions

[autotech]

Idealy you should use ram of same lot#.  I am sure more modules will work than is posted on site.
I would use the 3 x 4 gig kit that gives you 12 gigs which is more than most people use. You can add them to what you already have but some kits play funny with each other so you wont know results till you try.

When using different kits it will only run as fast as the slowest kit, keep that in mind if some of your timings are off you may not be able to be stable and use them all at fastest speed.

Try it and see what you get i have had mix and match sets that ran well together then in a different motherboard wouldnt boot until i only put one kit in.

[Esinem]

Many thanks