motherboards

#1 allro

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Posted 15 April 2011 - 10:46 PM

can anyone tell me, a asus sabertooth x58 motherboard has 6 ram slots, do i have to fill all of them for it to work or can i just use 3 ? any idea of good brand of ram sticks that will work good with this motherboard? starting my first build and would love to talk to someone with exp.

#2 ThunderZ

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Posted 15 April 2011 - 10:53 PM

A good starting point.

#3 dpunisher

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Posted 15 April 2011 - 11:07 PM

3 sticks only is the preferred configuration. Manufacturers do not guarantee their RAM to work to spec with all 6 slots filled.

3 channel DDR3 1600, 1.5V are the preferred specs. Tall heatspreaders on memory can get in the way of many large CPU coolers.

This has been my go to RAM for 3 builds. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225

I am a retired Ford tech. Next to Fords, any computer is a piece of cake. (The cake, its not a lie)

#4 the_patriot11

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Posted 15 April 2011 - 11:52 PM

3 is the ideal amount. Sometimes you can go all 6-but usually, only at the default speeds, if you want the faster advertised speeds (like 2000 mhz) then 3 is the recomended. I tried it with a intel build for my brother-went high end gigabyte motherboard that supports 2000 mhz ram, i7, and 2000 mhz ram. Could not get it overclocked past 1333 mhz with 4 sticks in (didnt have the full six) and even with just the 3, the fastest we got it was 1866 mhz, and even that wasn't entirely stable. Neither one of us are what you might call experienced overclockers, so an experienced overclocker would probably do better then us.

Primary system: Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3, Processor: AMD Phenom II x4 945, Memory: 8 gigs of Patriot G2 DDR3 1600, Video: ASUS ATI 4890 and a Saphire 4890 in Crossfire, Storage: 1 WD 500 gig HD, 1 Hitachi 500 gig HD, and Power supply: Coolermaster 750 watt, OS: Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit.
Media Center: Motherboard: Gigabyte mp61p-S3, Processor: AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+, Memory: 6 gigs Patriot DDR2 800, Video: Saphire 4850, Storage: 500 gig Hitachi, PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 550 watt modular PSU, OS: Windows 7 Ultimate.
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#5 DJBPace07

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Posted 16 April 2011 - 11:13 PM

If you haven't bought the motherboard, keep in mind that the X58 motherboards use the LGA 1366 socket which is going to be phased out soon. There are a number of good RAM brands, Corsair, Kingston, Patriot, G.Skill, A.Data, Mushkin. Generally, if the RAM can survive an overnight run with Memtest, it's good.

#6 Layback Bear

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Posted 08 May 2011 - 08:09 AM

I can't tell you if their is a bad ram brand but I can tell you that I have always used Kingston, (matched as per motherboard specs.) and never had a problem. For me, when something works as it should I don't change because of a few reviews.You have chose a great motherboard.

This post has been edited by Layback Bear: 08 May 2011 - 08:10 AM