help with choosing memory for GA-880GMA-USB3

[mascott]

Hi
am a complete noob to the world of pc building and i  have decided to build my first pc and have decided on buying the GA-880GMA-USB3 as its matx and i will be building a htpc with a bit of gaming thrown in, but am very confused when it comes to the differant kind of memory that you can use can anyone one recommend some good memory for me to use? will be running windows 7 and may as well go for 8GB of memory as it is so cheap, hope i have made sense and thanks for any replys i get :-)

[kosobai]

I have the same board, with 16GB of UMAX Cetus DDR3 1600OC RAM:

http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000232344/

However, it's only available in Japan,  I think. Also, for stability reasons, I only run it at 1333MHz. It's quoted with a CAS of 9, but it's stable with timings of 7-7-7-19-26-1T.

Crucial is your friend:

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=GA-880GMA-USB3&Cat=RAM

Lists compatible RAM for your board. I wouldn't pay much attention to the timings; in benchmarks I've done, the timings make very little difference in performance (as did overclocking to 1600MHz, for that matter). I'd say get the cheaper stuff; you may be able to tweak the timings in the BIOS if that's your thing.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome.

Well I wish you good luck with your first PC build but as long as you take your time and care you should be fine.  I would recommend having a look on the Corsair website at their QVL for your motherboard:

Corsair: http://www.corsair.com/learn_n_explore/

I expect their Vengeance modules will suit your build fine but check to make sure. They should give you 1333mhz speed which is a safe rate to run at without doing any damage to your memory controller which is part of the CPU.

[teknology9]

Hi there,

Also to add what DM has just suggested there is the Corsair Forum which also can be helpful:

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/forumdisplay.php?f=130



Teknology9

[jabberwocky]

I am using 16gb of corsair veangence dr3 1600 memory (4 modules) it was under £80 here in the UK ,it took me a while to work out how to get it running at 1600 but thanks to help from the guys here its been running great the last few days ,and is stable .
I have exactly the same board as you .
good luck ,Graham

[mascott]

thanks for all the replys :-) have had a look on the corsair website and found out i can use 4GB of 1600MHz Vengeance   http://www.cclonline.com/product/63461/CML4GX3M2A1600C9B/Desktop-Memory/Corsair-Vengeance-Blue-4GB-1600MHz-CL9-DDR3-Two-Module-Kit-Low-Profile/RAM0345/ gone with the blue cause it matches the motherboard lol  and LP just in case i need the extra room just hope i can get it to run at 1600MHZ now  but am sure i can find some more helpfull help  here if i need it :-)

[absic]

Being able to run your RAM at 1600MHz will really be down to the CPU you are running.

If you haven't already done so read this thread: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2515.0.html as it may save you a lot of grief and hope you to make the right choice.

[mascott]

Thab=nks for the tip absic, looks like i may have problems though as i have bin and bought the phenom II  965 be and i think you had problems with that as well, am just thinking now that i might just leave it at 1333 MHz if it dont run at the full 1600MHz will this do any harm to the memory or pc if i just leave it? am thinking now maybe i should just of gone and bought a pc lol

[absic]

Running your RAM at 1333MHz when it is rated as 1600MHz does no harm at all, in fact it's quite the opposite. By default the BIOS will set the RAM at 1333MHz at 1.5V so you should have the added advantage of not having to tweak these settings to get it running OK.

[Dark Mantis]

I agree with absic and if anything running the memory at a slower speed will actually make it last longer although RAM doesn't normally die of old age anyway it is usually heat related. Trust me you have made the correct decision to build your own system as you will learn far more about your computer specifically and all systems in general by going down that path than buying a ready made one.

[mascott]

thanks for all your advice guys, have ordered all me parts and am just waiting now for the motherboard to come in stock so they can send it. will let you know how i get on with the memory and if i can get it running at the correct speed :-)

[teknology9]

Hi,

In the meantime mascott in might be an idea to read through this post:

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,5704.0.html

It is concerned with a different MB but the principles are the same......that is just putting the basic components together and booting up to the splash screen. It makes for good reading and remember safety first when using electricity.........best to be cautious.

Oh yes putting Memtest on a pendrive might be useful too.

Teknology9

[bigbird3121]

Hi

I'm running the same board as you GA-880GMA-USB3

Corsair Vengeance 2 8GB kit 4 total 16GB CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B

running at 1333 with 8-8-8-21 stable

[mascott]

Thanks for the tip bigbird3121, have changed my memory to 8gb of the same memory as you now as the memory i intended to get was out of stock(even though it says its in stock on the website :-(  ) that was a nice read teknology9 and was realy infomative  and helpfull to me, was just wondering though if i would have to change much on the bios on my motherboard as i am running it as a HTPC?......Am still waiting on my mortherboard to get here (still out of stock and fingers crossed i will get it this friday) so still cant start me build yet :-( .if anyone got any more tips for guides to check out please let me know ...... just out of intrest if any one else whants to know here is the full spec of the comp i intend to build now..........

antec fusion veris remote black htpc case

AMD Phenom II X4 960T 3.0GHz 8MB 95W Black Edition

GA 880GMA USB3

Corsair vengence 8gb (2x4gb) CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B

Western digital 500GB caviar blue sata II AAKS (reused from my old htpc) will add a ssd later on when i can affford it

corsairvx450 psu (reused from old htpc)

sapphire radeon 4650 low profile (reused from old htpc) Will be upgrading this to  a 6850 when i can afford it

pioneer DVD-RW 24X (DVR-S19BK)

Peak dual tv tuner card(was cheap on ebay lol)

Windows 7 professional

Thanks again for all your help so far   

[teknology9]

Hi Mascot,

It might be an idea to get a PSU of at least 650w have a read of this here:

http://blog.corsair.com/?p=4257

As you aim to fit a 6850 GPU the minimum PSU required is 500w.....please see the link below.....the last bullet point:


http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1037&pid=1404&psn=&lid=1&leg=0#



UPDATE

If this is the MB you are purchasing:  

http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3817#ov

You will need to update the BIOS for the 960T CPU to  F3

http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3817#bios

AND here:

http://uk.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3817


In terms of  updating the BIOS this post here will explain how to do this:

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2441.0.html

Teknology9