Which is the better option?

[tsunme]

So for compatibility reason, I need to either buy new RAM for my current mobo, or buy a new mobo for my current RAM. My question is, which would give me an overall performance boost, or at least a gaming performance boost. At the moment I am looking between these 2 items.

Current Mobo - ga-970a-ud3 rev 1.2
New Mobo - ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer <<

Current RAM - Corsair VengeanceLP 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz
New RAM - G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz <<

Thank you in advance for the info.

 

[clutchc]

There should be no compatibility issue with the Corsair Vengeance RAM and the Gigabyte board.
But when it comes to motherboards, the 990FX chipset will allow better performance with dual gfx cards (x16,x16) than the 970 chipset (X16,x4) if you see that in your future. The Asrock board may also be a better overclocker too, although they are both 8+2 Power Phase Design.

 

[tsunme]

I've checked to see if it was and it didn't show on the compatibility list so I wasn't sure, but I've been having problems with ram on the board

 

[clutchc]

Do you know for certain that the issue is the memory? The QVL is just a list of memory that they had time to verify before the board went to market. Usually, it is extremely incomplete. I have never had any issue with any RAM that met the MB specs, no matter the manufacturer. Just be sure to buy MATCHED pairs for dual channel memory systems.

Have you run a memory stress test with Memtest yet? At least one full pass on each stick alone in the first DIMM slot recommended by the MB manual for a single stick. If any errors at all appear, the memory is bad. http://www.memtest.org/
(download the .ISO file to burn a bootable CD)

 

[tsunme]

Yes I've run memtest86, did 4 passes and got errors on test 7 each pass. But I've also used another stick of ram and had the same thing happen. Also I was researching about the problem I was having and someone was saying the board is the problem.

 

[clutchc]

Yes I've run memtest86, did 4 passes and got errors on test 7 each pass. But I've also used another stick of ram and had the same thing happen. Also I was researching about the problem I was having and someone was saying the board is the problem.

If you get the same exact error(s) with 2 different sticks of memory, it could indeed be the board that is the issue. You'd have to be able to memtest the sticks on a different board to know for sure, but I would suspect the MB. Are the sticks a matched pair?

I think I would opt for a new board. Memory is so damn expensive now, it's more than half the cost of that new hi-end board you are looking at.

 

[tsunme]

My original mem is a matched pair, where as the other mem is a single stick of the same amount. I think i will go for the new board, thank you for you input

 

[tsunme]

I don't if this changes anything, but I just re-looked at my original pair of ram sticks and i realized they are 1866 and not 1600.