Memory - noob here!

[SchnitzelDaemon]

Hi, 

 

I am running a rather old system given to me by a friend, AMD FX8320, Asus M5A97 R2.0 motherboard. I currently have 2x4gb  DDR3 Team Xtreem 2133mhz memory, which I hadn't realised until today was only actually running at 1600mhz . So I bought 'new' memory from ebay and went with what I thought the fastest memory for this board was, 2x8gb 1866mhz DDR3 G skill ripjaw. What I now realise is that the board actually goes up to 2400mhz, and is now currently running happily at 2133mhz with my old memory. 

 

I'm now torn as to whether to stick with what I have, run the new stuff at a lower speed - when I first booted into 1866mhz it wouldn't boot at that and was only stable at 1600mhz and felt horridly slow, or find a 2133mhz kit either 2x4gb matching or 2x8gb any. Thing is, money is super tight, which is why I have this really old system. I'm also trying to save up for a graphics card to replace my ancient GTX 650! I currently work, game, and stream on my system. 

 

Thanks for reading! 

[ZephCloud]

just use what you have then...why waste the moeny?

[SchnitzelDaemon]

Because I'm in need of 16gb ram, I'm hitting max usage regularly. 

[_Omega_]

get similar or better  4GB sticks to the ones you have and run it at the speed of the old ones should be fine and cheaper. DDR3 can be very cheap on the used market so maybe you could find some for a good price. Just don’t get ECC

[_Omega_]

Oh sorry havent read so far that you already bought more memory, ether you run it at 1600mhz or try giving it a bit more voltage and run it at 1866

[SchnitzelDaemon]

Thanks @_Omega_ I think i'll do that. I know about ECC, had issues with suppliers sending the wrong ram at work before! 

[-rascal-]

8 minutes ago, rosebrambles said:

Thanks @_Omega_ I think i'll do that. I know about ECC, had issues with suppliers sending the wrong ram at work before! 

 

What are the advertised memory timings for both the DDR3-2133 and DDR3-1866 kits?

You can still run the both sets together, but need to set them operate at the slower frequency & timings of the two.

 

For an example:

• DDR3-2133 kit runs with 11-11-11-30 timings
• DDR3-1866 kit runs with 9-9-9-24 timings

For stability / compatibility sake, you would run them both sets together at DDR3-1866 with 11-11-11-30 timings.

[Mitzy]

1 hour ago, rosebrambles said:

Hi, 

 

I am running a rather old system given to me by a friend, AMD FX8320, Asus M5A97 R2.0 motherboard. I currently have 2x4gb  DDR3 Team Xtreem 2133mhz memory, which I hadn't realised until today was only actually running at 1600mhz . So I bought 'new' memory from ebay and went with what I thought the fastest memory for this board was, 2x8gb 1866mhz DDR3 G skill ripjaw. What I now realise is that the board actually goes up to 2400mhz, and is now currently running happily at 2133mhz with my old memory. 

 

I'm now torn as to whether to stick with what I have, run the new stuff at a lower speed - when I first booted into 1866mhz it wouldn't boot at that and was only stable at 1600mhz and felt horridly slow, or find a 2133mhz kit either 2x4gb matching or 2x8gb any. Thing is, money is super tight, which is why I have this really old system. I'm also trying to save up for a graphics card to replace my ancient GTX 650! I currently work, game, and stream on my system. 

 

Thanks for reading! 

Have you tried enabling xmp for your ram through your motherboards bios it will give you the advertised speeds that you want if you need a video just search online or just feel free to message me and I’ll find a video to help you