Motherboard compatability

[Phantys]

Hello I'm quite new to computers, and I'm considering upgrading most aspects of my computer. I have a lot of questions because of it, so bare with me.

My motherboard is a K10N78-1394.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview. [...] 10N78-1394

The first question is concerning PSU, I have no idea what information I have to take from that page which will allow me to figure out which power supplys are compatible. I'm looking at getting 600/700w, would my current motherboard cope with that.

My second question is on ram, has far as I know my motherboard can use 4 x 4gb of ram 1066mhz. At the moment I currently have 2 x 2gb 677Mhz. Am I right in assuming I could add a '4gb 1066Mhz' to my current 4gb of ram, but the new ram would run at 677mhz.

Reason I'm asking this, is because I was going to upgrade slowly to 8gb, rather than buy 2 lots of 4gb ram straight away. Would I even be better off at running 8gb's at 677, instead of 4gb at 1066.

I'm sorry if this is a bit of a muddle, I've explained it as best as I can. I super appreciate anyone who can guide me to the answers i'm looking for even a tiny bit!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Emerald]

I'm looking at getting 600/700w, would my current motherboard cope with that.

yes

Am I right in assuming I could add a '4gb 1066Mhz' to my current 4gb of ram, but the new ram would run at 677mhz.

NO

usually you need either 1, 2, or 4 sticks of memory plugged into a MOBO.

also the memory you are adding needs to match your current memory (timing, speed, etc...)

there is really no reason to have more than 8GB of memory on a home/workstation computer.

most games only use 4GB of memory.

running memory at 1066 depends on the CPU you have. usually needs to be a AM2+ or AM3 type CPU

 

[Phantys]

Thanks for the reply Emerald.

I'll listen to your advice and stay well away from mixing the ram types. I wasn't planning to have more than 8GB, 8GB was what I was aiming for, mainly for comfortable gaming use. I'll probably consider just adding two more slots of 2gb of the same type now.

My CPU is currently an AMD Athlon II x4 2.9Ghz, but I plan on upgrading it to an AMD Phenom II X6 1090.

 

[Phantys]

Bump.

 

[Emerald]

you will need to update your BIOS to support the CPU

http://www.asrock.com/mb/cpu.asp?Model=K10N78

 

[Phantys]

This might sound silly, but is updating your bios just a driver download?

 

[Emerald]

BIOS updates are not drivers, they have nothing to do with Windows.

usually it was done in DOS; however, there is a Windows based update utility available.

make sure you read the instructions carefully.