Still a tad confused with this memory issue..

[speedracer]

Hello all. I am in the process of receiving my NEW GA-890FXA-UD5 motherboard. I also ordered the G.Skill Ripsaw 8gb (2x4gb) DDR3 SDRAM 1600 Memory model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL. I am not an overclocker. I read with great interest the article on the memory controller, ganged vs. unganged and running at 1330 only. I am still a tad confused though. According to the manual (v2.1 board) I am supposed to place one memory stick in slot 1 and the other in slot 3 yet if I am reading the article correctly, it is stating to place one stick of memory in slot 1 and the other in slot 2 and run unganged. IS THIS CORRECT?? IF one is NOT overclocking then does it matter whether it is 1&3 ganged vs 1&2 unganged? What is the most efficient way to run this board with respect to memory. I am planning on running the phenom 2 4 core 965 black edition if this matters. Running Win 7 x64. Also, there was mention of running in AHCI mode and using windows drivers. My current motherboard does NOT support this mode. Briefly, what is the advantage of using or not using AHCI? Read a lot of posts here and the issues run the gamut. What should I be on the lookout for when upgrading (settings,values, etc.). SORRY for asking so many questions but easier to get educated now than spend countless hours and a great many "words" later. THANKS to ALL for any responses given.

[absic]

Hi,
on the GA-890FXA-UD5 the memory slots are configured so that you need to put one stick in slot DDR3_1 and DDR3_3 for Dual Channel mode. By default the RAM will be in Unganged mode which is the way AMD recommend that it should be run. I would advise you to keep your RAM Running at the motherboard's default speed of 1333MHz rather than it's rated speed.

Setting up the SATA controllers for RAID, AHCI or IDE really depends on the circumstances and the hardware you are actually running. I am running a single HDD for the OS with three other HDD's and a DVD/CD burner and I have set my SATA controllers to AHCI for the SATA3 ports and to native IDE for the GSATA2 ports. My HDD's are connected to the SATA3 ports and my DV/CD burner is attached to one of the GSATA2 ports.

I used the Windows 7 AHCI drivers which did not need to be preloaded using F6 during install. I tested the AMD AHCI Drivers and actually found them to have slightly slower transfer speeds then the Microsoft drivers.

The initial changes to BIOS that I make are:
Under Standard CMOS Features disable the Floppy Support.

Under Advanced BIOS Features
Disable the Full Screen Logo Show, Set Init Display First to PEG.

Under Integrated Peripherals
I disable things the Serial Port and Parallel Port as I do not use these.
This is also where you set up the SATA Controllers. On my System they are set as follows:
OnChip SATA Controller - Enabled
OnChip SATA Type - AHCI
OnChip SATA Port4/5 Type - As SATA Type
OnChip SATA3.0 Support - Enabled
Onboard GSATA/IDE Ctrl - Enabled
Onboard GSATA/IDE Ctrl Mode - IDE
Onboard ESATA Controller - Disabled ( I have disabled this as I do not use any ESATA devices. This controls the 2 external ESATA ports on the back panel.)

All other BIOS Settings I tend to leave on their defaults for a couple of weeks until I am happy that the system is operating OK.