6gb/s backwards comptatible with 3gb/s?

[KirkR]

So I was thinking of upgrading my computer. Around November (birthday time) I was going to buy myself an AMD Phenom II X6 3.3GhZ processor, and 12GB of DDR3 1333 RAM. To do this, I also need to upgrade my mobo, and I've found one within my price range that I like, has all the compatibility I need, except for this one problem, which I couldn't find an answer on.

Are 6gb/s Ports on a mobo compatible with any hard drive? Does a hard drive have to have a certain spec to work with 6gb/s, or is it just PnP? And if a hard drive has been running with 3gb/s, could I switch it over to the new mobo?

I have a feeling the answer is pretty simple, I just couldn't find anything and didn't want to make any mistakes.

Thanks

 

[o1die]

Yes, sata II hardrives (3.0) will work on sata III (6.0) ports.

 

[j2j663]

^ +1

You will have no problems running a sata II HDD with a sata III port.

On a side note ... You have no reason to run 12GB of ram. You should either fill 1, 2 or 4 ram slots with 2 and 4 being the most desirable. By running with ram in 3 slots you will be risking poor performance from the rest of your ram because the single stick with be working alone and limiting the other 2 that are trying to run in dual mode.

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

j2j momentarily forgot that you can run 12GB in a dual-channel mainboard by using one 2x4GB kit and one 2x2GB kit. My system has this configuration and it works beautifully.

 

[j2j663]

j2j momentarily forgot that you can run 12GB in a dual-channel mainboard by using one 2x4GB kit and one 2x2GB kit. My system has this configuration and it works beautifully.

While I completely believe that your system is running and will run perfectly with this setup, I still must disagree with using this config. If you are careful and buy everything with the same latencies and speeds I could see this working out. But in my experience I have eliminated many "random" problems from computers by removing unmatched ram after an upgrade.

Also, until Kirkr tells us what he is using his computer for I am going to assume he is in the 90% of people who will never use more than 8GB of ram so I see no reason to spend another $40 on something that wouldn't get used.

 

[KirkR]

All this has been very helpful, and I didn't think at all about the RAM issues.

First off, thanks for the help with the hard drive question.

Secondly, If this is the case, I wouldn't mind spending EVEN more to get 16GB of RAM, May be WAY over the top and unnecessary, but I won't have to upgrade for a long while.

 

[KirkR]

Best answer selected by Kirkr.

 

[j2j663]

I'm glad that we could help you out. Good luck with your rig it should be a lot of fun.