Compatability, and some general advice?

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Hi all, I just joined to see if anyone could help me out with a RAM upgrade. I currently have '4GB (2 x 2GB) Mushkin PC10600 1333MHz DDR3' RAM, and my motherboard allows up to 8GB, however it only has 2 DIMM slots. My first question is does a DIMM slot hold one RAM stick?
So if I wanted to upgrade to 8GB RAM would I have to purchase two 4GB RAM sticks?
My motherboard is 'Asus M5A78L-M LX V2, 2xDIMM, Max. 8GB, M-ATX' precisely if that helps answering the question.
Question two: If I was to purchase more RAM, would it have to be of the same 1333MHz type? Or of the same company?

As you can probably tell, I'm not particularly knowledgeable on the internals of a computer, but I would be extremely grateful if anyone could help me out. I can post any other information if required.

Thanks,

Jamie
 
Solution
Tradesman1
Any company YES, any speed NO, the mobo can support up to 1866 (so that leaves out all the sets from 2133-3000), also the CPU is the prime factor in what speed you can run not the mobo, if the mobo says 2400 it makes no sense to specd big bucks on 2400 if your CPU can only do 1600 sticks...With AMD the 8350, 8320 and the 8150 can fairly reliably run 2 sticks of 1866 (some can run more), at 1600 the 965 REV 3C is the entry level, so that or higher, otherwise prob look to 1333 sticks...If unsure on your CPU and check, otherwise 1333 is a good freq but I'd look to CL7 or CL8 for better performance
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JRAtk94

JRAtk94

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May 26, 2013
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Yes, one DIMM slot = 1 RAM stick.

And yes, to upgrade to 8gb of RAM, you'd need to buy 2 new sticks.

last, no, the RAM can be any company, and any speed (as long as the motherboard supports it).

for that Motherboard, I'd recommend 2 x 4gb RAM modules @ 1333mhz (max speed supported), CAS 9, 1.5V.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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Any company YES, any speed NO, the mobo can support up to 1866 (so that leaves out all the sets from 2133-3000), also the CPU is the prime factor in what speed you can run not the mobo, if the mobo says 2400 it makes no sense to specd big bucks on 2400 if your CPU can only do 1600 sticks...With AMD the 8350, 8320 and the 8150 can fairly reliably run 2 sticks of 1866 (some can run more), at 1600 the 965 REV 3C is the entry level, so that or higher, otherwise prob look to 1333 sticks...If unsure on your CPU and check, otherwise 1333 is a good freq but I'd look to CL7 or CL8 for better performance
 
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G

Guest

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Thanks so much for the replies, my CPU is 'AMD FX 6100 Black Edition, Six Core (AM3+, 3.30GHz, 12MB Cache)' so I think a 1866 setup is realistic, but sorry I'm not sure what a CL7 or CL8 is...
And are there any brands you'd recommend to fit this system?
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
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CL is the CAS latency and can be found as the first # of the base timings, you might see 8-8-8-24 or 8-9-9-24 (in these examples 8 for both), however for your combo, if going 1866 then look for CL9 or 10, if you look at 1600 sets then look at CL8 or CL9 (the lower the number the higher the performance at a given frequency - but keep in mind AMD CPUs don't have all that strong of a memory controller, which is where my recommendations are based from
 
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G

Guest

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OK, thanks for the help, really appreciate it :)
And sorry, one more question: would a single 8GB RAM stick work? or would it have to be two 4GB sticks?
 
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