Which memory ?

[siggyphoo]

Hi, I have recently just started my first pc build, after many hours research and head scratching I have purchased the following items.

Motherboard - Asus M487AT-E

PSU - Thermaltake Evo Blue 750w

Case - Coolermaster Storm Sniper black edition ( window )

CPU - AMD Phenom ii x4 955 ( black edition )

HDDS - 2 x WD Caviar Blues 500 gigs

DVD RW - Samsung 22x lightscribe

Fan Controller - Sentry LX

PSU Heatsink Fan - Xigmatek Dark Knight

GPU - Radeon HD 4870

Can anybody please tell me which RAM will be best for this system for gaming, also I'll be running Windows 7 Ultimate so should I go for 4 or 8 gigs of RAM?

 

Your help is very much appreciated

Thanks Siggy

[Match]

your RAM will be dependant on your motherboard unfortunately a Google search gives me two hits

 

Asus M487AT-E

 

and here so is there a chance of giving us a link to a site that lists your motherboard specs

 

as for the amount you will never use more than 4 Gig even in high end gaming the only thing that I have found that requires more than 4Gig of RAM is if you are running virtual Machine software

 

as a rough guide as I have been really busy of late and might not be able to reply, your motherboard will decide on you using DDR2 or DDR3 I'll put my money on DDR3 Dual channel, your Budget will dictate the speed.

 

1066,1600 or 1800MHz these numbers the higher the faster and the more expensive.

 

the next set of numbers to take note of is the latency, a set of 4 numbers, IE. 9.9.9.25 or sometimes shortened to C9 these are the clock cycles that it takes to perform the various actions access,read,write and erase so the lower the faster, and more expensive

 

Hopefully if you can post your Motherboard specs and some idea of budget, someone if not myself will give you a link to your best option ;)

[BJD88]

Ok so your MotherBoard is an ASUS M487A T-E

 

Here is the Mobo on the ASUS website.. ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Motherboards - ASUS M4A78T-E

 

Firstly.. What version of windows 7 ultimate do you have.. 32-bit or 64-bit.

 

If you have 32-bit.. your system will not 'recognize' more than 3.2GB (4GB MAX) of Memory, 64-bit operating systems will use all of your installed RAM as far as im aware.

 

Next.. Your MoBo appears to support a maximum of 16Gb of Memory (however you won't require this much). Use Computer memory upgrades for ASUS M4A78T-E Motherboard from Crucial.com to see what RAM your system will use.

 

I would suggest you go for some Ballistix Memory - In an old system I built, I used Ballistix for gaming and it run pretty smoothily. Here is the Ballistix Ram you could use..

 

4GB kit (2GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800

 

4GB kit (2GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800 upgrades for ASUS M4A78T-E Motherboard, CT1022959 from Crucial.com

 

Please note, I have attempted to keep the information here simple, so unlike Match, I haven't talked about Latency or Timings.. however that Ram should be adequate for your needs.

 

BJD

[Dalo Harkin]

3.75GB is the Max a 32bit OS can 'see' :)

 

RAM manufacturer is down to the user, I only use OCZ for a few reasons (one of which is a lifetime warranty)