Have info, please help me determine which type of ram can my MB supports.

[iceliquid]

I just received a barebones system from a friend w/ a Gigabyte mb. It's a GA-5AX rev3.0 and I've been looking to see what type of ram it can support.

From the manual on their site, here is what I think the pertinent info is:

SPEED
-66/75/83/95/100 MHz system speed.
-66 MHz AGP-Bus speed.
-33 MHz PCI-Bus speed.
-8 MHz AT bus speed.

DRAM MEMORY
-3 banks 168 pins DIMM module socket on board.
-Use 8/16/32/32/64/128/256 MB 50-60ns DIMM
-8~768 MB DRAM size.
-Supports 3.3V SDRAM/EDO type DRAM.
-Supports ECC or Non-ECC type DRAM

Ok, this is my understanding, could someone verify this please:
I can buy PC100 SDRAM as long as it's 3.3v. The board supports sticks up to 256mb/stick and with a max of 768mb of ram.

I'm planning to get SDRAM for it since it seems to be the most available and cheapest. Some clarifications please TIA guys and gals!!

 

[CoMmAnDoMoE2001]

you can get xMB PC133 which is okay today
x=amount of RAM you want
Micron makes the best RAM TODAY! don't forget that

 

[PCAddict]

Get yourself some nice Crucial PC133 RAM. You can get 128MB for about $60-$70 bucks right now.

 

[zemel]

Go to Crucial's site ; they have a page where you can indicate the m/b manuf and it'll tell you which of their ram type will work with it.

 

[iceliquid]

my two main questions still exist but seems to be correct if no one has said that my assumptions are wrong. So can someone put in cement and confirm my assumptions for me? pleezzz

Secondly, just curious, but can my board take advantage of the pc133? I'd probably get it anyways since I can always upgrade board later. Just curious. Thanks all for your help! I can now sleep tonight

 

[PCAddict]

The reason to get PC133 is that you'll be able to use it later when you replace your current MB/CPU combo with something better that supports 133MHZ memory speeds.

Basically, purchase some standard (3.3v) PC133 SDRAM and you'll be good to go. That's all there is to it.

 

[Peter]

5AX uses the ALi Aladdin V north bridge chip - this one can (at least) handle 128 MByte per DIMM _side_. Aladdin V runs the SDRAM at the same frequency as the CPU bus (which is 100 max). This means that you need at least an SDRAM speed grade that matches your current CPU bus speed.
Using a DIMM that can go faster doesn't hurt, but it isn't very useful either (other than that a PC133 DIMM _might_ be able of doing PC100 in faster CAS2 mode instead of CAS3).

So just go get any generic or brand PC133 DIMM as you please.

Regards, Peter