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RAM question

Post Date: 2012-08-18
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Adam10157 View Drop Down
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Posts: 12 		  Quote Adam10157 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: RAM question
    Posted: 18 Aug 2012 at 10:48pm
I'm going to purchase two 4gb sticks of adata ram clocked at 1600 mhz to add to my p8z77-v lx motherboard. I read online that when people install this type of ram most motherboards default it to 1333 mhz. I was just curious if anyone knew if my motherboard would do this also or recognize that it is 1600 mhz and keep it on that clock since 8gb of ram clocked at 1600 mhz are already installed. (Oh and on a side note this is the ram that digital storm says is hand tested and highly recommened right?)
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Globext View Drop Down
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Posts: 11 		  Quote Globext Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 18 Aug 2012 at 11:37pm
Good question. I also have some RAM coming my way. If im not mistaken RAM only underclocks itself to match the lowest mhz installed , so if they are all 1600 it should stay that way.
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bprat22 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20391 		  Quote bprat22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 5:58am
If it defaults to 1333Mhz, which it sometimes does, then most mobo's allow it to be adjusted in Bios, under AI Tweaker I believe.   Check your motherboard's manual to see the procedure.  Pretty simple fix.
 
Good Luck.Big%20Smile


Edited by bprat22 - 19 Aug 2012 at 5:59am
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Adam10157 View Drop Down
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Posts: 12 		  Quote Adam10157 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 10:10am
Yea it talks about that. Is there a way to tell if your ram is at 1333 mhz without going into your bios?
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bprat22 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20391 		  Quote bprat22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 10:32am
The POST screen when you first boot, will show the ram speed, but ya gotta look fast.   
 
Also, download and run cpu-z and under the Memory tab, read DRAM Frequeancy and multiply x 2 if you have a dual channel ram mobo, like Z77 for example.  So a 800Mhz reading is really 1600Mhz.
 
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Adam10157 View Drop Down
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Posts: 12 		  Quote Adam10157 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 2:50pm
Ah ok thanks. Oh one more question... do you know if I can add one 4gb stick of ram onto this motherboard (have four slots, two occupied) or would that be considered tri-channel memory which my motherboard doesn't support?

Edited by Adam10157 - 19 Aug 2012 at 2:50pm
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bprat22 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20391 		  Quote bprat22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 3:44pm
I believe the 3rd stick would operate with half bandwidth, meaning reduced performance.     I'd go 2 sticks or 4 sticks.     If you don't Photoshop, video edit, or lots of multi-tasking then 8gb for gaming is all you need.   Your call of course. Good luck.

Edited by bprat22 - 19 Aug 2012 at 3:49pm
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Adam10157 View Drop Down
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Posts: 12 		  Quote Adam10157 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 3:49pm
Ughh it'll be a pain with the fourth slot as the tube that goes to my cpu to cool it goes over the slot but thanks for responding.
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Adam10157 View Drop Down
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Posts: 12 		  Quote Adam10157 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 3:55pm
Yea but I do alot of multitasking. Out of curiosity would it screw anything up if (while my computer is off of course) I took out the 8gb that my computer uses while its on and replace them with two 8gb sticks instead of two 4gb sticks?
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bprat22 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20391 		  Quote bprat22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 4:02pm
No poblem going from 2x4 to 2x8 sticks.   Looks like the way to go.   I'm assuming you have the Hyper212 cooler or a similar one?      You could remove it, reapply heat paste and reinstall but so much easier with 2x8.     
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Adam10157 View Drop Down
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Posts: 12 		  Quote Adam10157 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 4:04pm
Yea I think that's the way to go with the 2*8. The problem is I'm looking at the supported ram for my motherboard in it's manual and I don't see any companies that have ram in the 2*8 format that my motherboard supports. Is it still possible to install it even though it is not listed in the manual?
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Adam10157 View Drop Down
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Posts: 12 		  Quote Adam10157 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 4:09pm
There is a corsair ram that is 12gb (6*2). Will it harm my system or require me going into the bios if I swap out my two 4gb adata ram cards and put in two corsair 6gb cards? (sorry if I sound like a n00b. My first time messing around with ram lol :D)
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bprat22 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20391 		  Quote bprat22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 4:26pm
Go to crucial.com and use their mobo compatible memory finder.   They have the 2x8 sticks you want.     As long as they are DDR 3 at 1600mhz then you're good.   I google searched .... memory for p8z77 z-lx    and several links down it showed.     I think thats your mobo.
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Adam10157 View Drop Down
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Posts: 12 		  Quote Adam10157 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 4:30pm
Thanks! I didn't know you could do that. I really appreciate you helping a n00b like me figure out this stuff lol.
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bprat22 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20391 		  Quote bprat22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 4:44pm
Glad to help.       Best of luck.
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Alex View Drop Down
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Posts: 16314 		  Quote Alex Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 12:18pm
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Globext View Drop Down
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Posts: 11 		  Quote Globext Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 11:01pm
Originally posted by bprat22

I believe the 3rd stick would operate with half bandwidth, meaning reduced performance.     I'd go 2 sticks or 4 sticks.     If you don't Photoshop, video edit, or lots of multi-tasking then 8gb for gaming is all you need.   Your call of course. Good luck.
 
I dont understand this or maybe I'm reading it wrong. 4 slots, 2 occupied, I put another stick in the 3rd slot it operates half bandwidth? What am I missing?
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bprat22 View Drop Down
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Posts: 20391 		  Quote bprat22 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 21 Aug 2012 at 7:45am
The p8z77-v lx motherboard is a dual channel memory board.  The memory controller is wired to the ram slots in parallel to access data at 128 bits/sec.   2 or 4 ram sticks operate at dual channel, 128bits.  If you put in a third stick, it will only operate at 64 bits/sec.  The transfer speed not clock speed is affected.
In theory, a performance hit is taken but in real world, you'd probably never see the difference unless you're into ram intense apps like Lightroom, 3D modeling, rendering, etc.
 
 
 
 
 


Edited by bprat22 - 21 Aug 2012 at 9:25am
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Globext View Drop Down
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Posts: 11 		  Quote Globext Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 21 Aug 2012 at 11:19pm
It does not really effect gaming...ok I'm good with that.
 
I have 4GBx2 sticks coming in the mail to upgrade my current 8GB, which I should of just ordered 12GB in the first place when I customised my x17. Now that I think about I should of just ordered one 8GB stick, not two 4GB...oh well.
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