Adding additional RAM

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gdmaclew

gdmaclew

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May 20, 2008
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I am on the verge of replacing my current RAM (see my CPU-Z) banner with new 16GB RAM (https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233365).

My MB manual says that it is capable of using the following DIMMs - DDR3 2133(OC)/1866/1600/1333/1066MHz.

In my BIOS (the latest) I have RAM Speed set to AUTO. My RAM is running at 1333MHz with this setting (also see my CPU-Z Banner).
Questions...

1. Why is my current RAM running at 1333 MHz instead of its rated speed of 1600?

2. Can I safely run 1866 MHz RAM with this motherboard?

The latest QVL says I can. Just need confirmation.

This RAM Speed Guide from AMD also suggests I can...

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/ddr3memoryfrequencyguide.aspx

Thanks.
 
Solution
atomicWAR
Oh CPUz is showing on the first image for ddr3 1600 that it is indeed running at 800mhz (which is doubled to 1600). So you are getting 1600mhz speeds with that setting. The second image for CPUz is showing the ram you have is over clocked 1333mhz ram, which is not uncommon. My ddr3 2400mhz ram is overclocked 667mhz (1333mhz). I basically paid to ensure my ram hit a 2400mhz overclock as you paid to make sure yours hit 1600mhz. So use the settings from 1600. You are golden now. You got a good boost in performance. If you really want to check your ram bandwidth use sandra sisoft freeware version.

http://www.sisoftware.eu/download-buy/

that will tell you how much bandwidth you are getting with each set up.
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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1. running ram at auto is a bad idea, generlly speaking. It won''t clock a high as it can nor will the CL timings be correct causing poor performance. SO I encourage you to manually set you speed and CL timings in bios yourself.

2. If your board supports it you should be ok in theory, right? It isn't even an OC ram speed at which point the issue becomes your CPUs memory controller ability to OC and whether it can handle the OC speed. That said AMD FX CPUs have a history with having a trouble hitting ddr3 1866 speeds. So the short answer is we don't know but in theory it should/could work. But again you need to manually set you speed and timings. No promises though.
 
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gdmaclew

gdmaclew

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Thanks AW. The RAM I currently have lists timings of 9-9-9-24 and as you can see it is not using those timings.
I will change the BIOS setting to 1600 from AUTO, as well as the timings and see what effect it has.
Since the Corsair 1866 RAM is $10 more expensive than the 1600 I was concerned that I would be wasting my money buying it rather than the new 16GB (2X8GB) 1600 RAM.
I'll report back shortly.

 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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Sep 4, 2007
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Oh CPUz is showing on the first image for ddr3 1600 that it is indeed running at 800mhz (which is doubled to 1600). So you are getting 1600mhz speeds with that setting. The second image for CPUz is showing the ram you have is over clocked 1333mhz ram, which is not uncommon. My ddr3 2400mhz ram is overclocked 667mhz (1333mhz). I basically paid to ensure my ram hit a 2400mhz overclock as you paid to make sure yours hit 1600mhz. So use the settings from 1600. You are golden now. You got a good boost in performance. If you really want to check your ram bandwidth use sandra sisoft freeware version.

http://www.sisoftware.eu/download-buy/

that will tell you how much bandwidth you are getting with each set up.
 
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