Buying today, need RAM selection advice

[glittle]

I am buying a MB, CPU and RAM today. I need some suggestions on my DDR3 RAM purchase. Currently I only need 2GB (2 x 1GB) of ram since I will be using Windows XP 32 bit.

GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128419

AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103724

Thanks!

 

[MadAdmiral]

Crucial 2x1 GB 1333 mhz CAS Latency 9 $55

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I would consider going with 4GB even though your 32-bit OS won't use all the RAM. You'll still be able to use anywhere from 3.2GB to 3.5GB and your system will be ready for an upgrade to a 64-bit OS in the future. Here's a couple nice kits. Don't worry that they say "Intel Core i5 & Core i7 CPU for P55 motherboard" in the description. They just say that because they run under the 1.65v voltage limit of those systems. They work just fine with AMD systems. I've done it plenty of times.

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Retail $105.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM - Retail $108.99

 

[MadAdmiral]

Or a third option if you want to overclock: G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $120

 

[glittle]

I would consider going with 4GB even though your 32-bit OS won't use all the RAM. You'll still be able to use anywhere from 3.2GB to 3.5GB and your system will be ready for an upgrade to a 64-bit OS in the future. Here's a couple nice kits. Don't worry that they say "Intel Core i5 & Core i7 CPU for P55 motherboard" in the description. They just say that because they run under the 1.65v voltage limit of those systems. They work just fine with AMD systems. I've done it plenty of times.

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Retail $105.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM - Retail $108.99

About 16 months ago I upgraded my old AMD & P4 systems with 2GB (2 x 1GB) of DDR ram. Out of curiosity I tried installing all full 4GB (4 x 1GB) in each machine. As expected XP detected the 3.2(?) minus the 512 video ram.

The only problem was I ran into a lot of memory problems playing older games. Some failed to load and others would just crash. All 4 sticks were Crucial 1GB DDR modules.

I have seen some other posts where people were sticking a single 2GB (1 X 2GB) still in dual channel motherboard with only had a singe bank so they could upgrade to 4GB (2 X 2GB). Would this work on this motherboards or will it kill the performance?

 

[glittle]

Or a third option if you want to overclock: G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $120

Would I be able to overclock with these? I was looking at them yesterday but today they are out stock.
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-2GBRH
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231343

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Running four single sticks of RAM is harder on the motherboard. You will have much better success with a 2x2GB setup than a 4x1GB setup. I would venture to guess that your instability issues with your 4x1GB setup were caused because you didn't manually set the RAM speed, timings, and voltage to the correct values in the BIOS. A system running four sticks of RAM will rarely be stable when using "auto" settings for the RAM in the BIOS.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Just to be clear, you will be ABLE to overclock with all sets of RAM. Some are just better at it than others. The first thing you should look for in some sticks is the CAS Latency. The lower latency, the faster the sticks will run. The lowest latency that's readily available and not really expensive is CL 7.

Next, look at the speeds. 1333 mhz is the default for current generation CPUs. Once you go above that, the sticks will retain their listed latency for higher speeds. Typically, you can't get much faster than 1600 mhz when overclocking, so you might as set that as the highest speed you shoudl get.