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I need help to choose memory

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bardos

Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2002
Location
Haiku, Maui
I have just bought a GA-Z87X-UD3H motherboard. Got a good price on it. Looking to pair a CPU and memory with it. I am thinking about the Intel g3258 cpu rated at 1333Mhz. How does this affect the memory that I can use? I was originally thinking about getting ddr3 1600 mhz memory with a g3420 cpu rated at 1600Mhz I think. But I am reading more and more about the g3258... I am in a quandary over which combo memory and cpu to get. My current board is a socket 775 board I've been using for several years now with a 2.4Ghz core 2 quad Q6600, so the upgrade is substantial and I am on a learning curve about these new boards. Any advice appreciated.
 
G3258 can work with every DDR3 memory. You will faster see motherboard limiting max clock than this CPU. With current prices 1866-2133 would be best.
 
You definitely want a two module kit so you ca take advantage of dual channel.
 
G3258 can work with every DDR3 memory. You will faster see motherboard limiting max clock than this CPU. With current prices 1866-2133 would be best.

Could you explain why? I haven't overclocked in ages. thank you
 
Every Z87 motherboard officially supports max 1600 memory as this is the Intel's specification for memory controller inside the CPU. Somehow every board is working at least till about 2933.

On your mobo website you can find info:
"Support for DDR3 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules"

As you see everything above 1600 is marked as OC. It means that board is working with memory at least up to 3000 but manufacturer is not guaranteeing correct work with modules above 1600. It's normal for all boards.
So far I haven't seen any Z87 or Z97 motherboard which couldn't run at least up to 2400 ( I had no chance to test higher clocked modules on some of them ).

Now something about CPU. G3258 has unlocked CPU ratio and on every motherboard is acting like unlocked i5/i7. Every Haswell CPU has maximum memory ratio of x29.33 so if you don't want to raise bclk ( which is 100MHz ) then you can get maximum of DDR3-2933 memory support.

To support Pentium G3258, your board will need new BIOS. Depends from motherboard it may throw info that CPU is not recognized or won't start at all if you won't update BIOS.

Lvcoyote already answered for that question but 2 memory modules are better just because it will work in dual channel = in theory double memory speed.
 
I'll post this here:

I have this setup on my bench now, the g3258 cpu and the ga-z87-ud3h.

In the bios the CPU vcore is set at 1,27v and the multiplier to 44. Readout in the bios says this is 4,4Ghz. The RAM is set at profile1: 1600Mhz at 1,65v.

When I boot into windows (win7 ultimate sp1 32 bit) and open AIDA64 or CPU-Z, these programs say I am running at 3,2 ghz, the stock speed of the cpu. Has the bios reset itself to default?

No.

These programs also report a Vcore of 1,27v for the CPU and that the memory is indeed at 1600Mhz and the voltage at 1,65.

If I boot back to the bios, either on a reboot or a cold start-up, the bios settings have not changed. Multiplier remains at 44.

Can someone explain this to me. I must be doing//thinking something wrong
 
Disable the "green" settings in your bios. Things like C1E, Eist, should be disabled. Those settings are down clocking your cpu.
 
Good tips. I updated the bios to the newest beta version and now the multiplier change sticks within Windows.
 
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