RAM roadblock?

[Senex]

I acquired these motherboards to use with Phenom X4 9850:
GA-MA770-DS3P
GA-MA770-UD3
GA-MA790X-UD4
GA-MA790X-UD4P
GA-MA790FX-DS5
GA-MA790FX-UD5P
All boards have 16GB memory limit and all take DDR2 1066MHz. Been told on other forums to only use two DIMM sockets, but I'm only seeing DDR2 1066MHz modules in 2GB size, which gives me just 4GB memory, and I was wanting at least 6GB (would prefer 8GB). Do I have any option, or must I settle for 4GB of RAM?

 

[Cerb]

8GB should work fine, but you may have to slow the RAM down, and use matching sets of 4. While the CPUs are maxed out at 16GB, 4GB sticks were rare, and I doubt you could get 4 4GB DDR2 sticks working, at least not unbuffered ones.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I don't think that I've ever seen a DDR2 stick that was both 4GB and DDR2-1066 in speed. Usually, the bigger dimms had slower speeds and timings.

 

[Senex]

8GB should work fine, but you may have to slow the RAM down, and use matching sets of 4. While the CPUs are maxed out at 16GB, 4GB sticks were rare, and I doubt you could get 4 4GB DDR2 sticks working, at least not unbuffered ones.

I could live with 8GB (or even 6GB), but been warned off using all 4 DIMM sockets at a couple of forums, where I been lead to believe it causes a load of problems. Is there a way to fill all four DIMMs with 2GB sticks, without sticking my hand into a hornets nest? Or do you know of a brand/model number of DDR2 1066 RAM in 4GB size? Please advise exactly how I can make the 8GB goal happen!

 

[Senex]

I don't think that I've ever seen a DDR2 stick that was both 4GB and DDR2-1066 in speed. Usually, the bigger dimms had slower speeds and timings.

Despite lots of Google searches, I've failed to find any either. Google offers it, but as soon as I click on a link, it goes to either 2GB stick, or 4GB stick that is not 1066MHz

 

[Cerb]

I could live with 8GB (or even 6GB), but been warned off using all 4 DIMM sockets at a couple of forums, where I been lead to believe it causes a load of problems. Is there a way to fill all four DIMMs with 2GB sticks, without sticking my hand into a hornets nest? Or do you know of a brand/model number of DDR2 1066 RAM in 4GB size? Please advise exactly how I can make the 8GB goal happen!

Just use 4 matched 2GB sticks, and don't be afraid to go from say, 5-5-5 stock timings to 6-6-6, or 1T command rate to 2T, or 1066MHz to 667MHz. If you want 1066MHz or faster, in that scenario, you really need DDR3, or an outstanding good luck charm.

Also, the UD4P and UD5P will be your best bet, as far as the boards go.

 

[Senex]

Just use 4 matched 2GB sticks, and don't be afraid to go from say, 5-5-5 stock timings to 6-6-6, or 1T command rate to 2T, or 1066MHz to 667MHz. If you want 1066MHz or faster, in that scenario, you really need DDR3, or an outstanding good luck charm.

Also, the UD4P and UD5P will be your best bet, as far as the boards go.

Thanks for your help! I've seen this question asked and answered on various forums, but would like to hear your opinion on it:
Which is better, 4 sticks of 1066MHz (2GB each) or 2 sticks of 800MHz (4GB each)? Also, is G.Skill the best of the best, as brands go?

What's your thinking on the boards? As a newbie, all the boards look to be fairly equal to me, so I'm curious why you especially like these two?

DDR3 will not fly with Phenom X4 9850 (so far as I know), so I'm stuck with DDR2. From what I been able to learn, its not that bad! Though not sure how the DDR3 on the Geforce graphic card will like the DDR2.

 

[Cerb]

I've never personally seen 4GB unbuffered DDR2 sticks, so I don't know.

Those boards were premier overclocking boards for their time, so they've done things like optimize the RAM trace layouts (more likely just keeping interfering things farther away) to get higher speeds from them, implemented better voltage regulation (not really needed at stock power levels--oh, and the heatsinks for the MOSFETs tend to be just for show), and possibly performed other more minor tweaks to the designs, that might have a chance at improving RAM performance (in this case, the chances of being able to run all the sticks at a decent speed). If anything suffers in those boards from age, those particular ones will likely handle that better, too. The others are just fine, too, but I would consider those the first ones to try. It's quite possible that they could run the RAM at better settings than some of the cheaper ones.

 

[Senex]

I've never personally seen 4GB unbuffered DDR2 sticks, so I don't know.

Those boards were premier overclocking boards for their time, so they've done things like optimize the RAM trace layouts (more likely just keeping interfering things farther away) to get higher speeds from them, implemented better voltage regulation (not really needed at stock power levels--oh, and the heatsinks for the MOSFETs tend to be just for show), and possibly performed other more minor tweaks to the designs, that might have a chance at improving RAM performance (in this case, the chances of being able to run all the sticks at a decent speed). If anything suffers in those boards from age, those particular ones will likely handle that better, too. The others are just fine, too, but I would consider those the first ones to try. It's quite possible that they could run the RAM at better settings than some of the cheaper ones.

Doubt I would of stumbled across that on my own. Thanks! I'll try those first. Well, as for the RAM, it sounds like you're saying that I've little to no chance to do 8GB of 1066MHz, so it seems like I got only three options:
#1~ Two matched 2GB sticks of DDR2 1066MHz.
Since various Linux distros I plan to trial are either 64bit, or LiveCDs that run on RAM, I don't think I can settle for just 4GB.
#2~ Try to find four matched 2GB sticks of DDR2 1066MHz, then slow it down to 800MHz (or worse, 667MHz).
#3~ Just get two matched 4GB sticks of DDR2 800MHz.
None of these thrill me. Guess option #3 is the best I can hope for, but if you disagree, I'd like to hear your thoughts.