Need help with ram.

[NITRO>XI<]

Hi all first of all great site! I am building my first pc and need some help on ram for my mobo. First of all the mobo is a MSI 890FXA-GD70 AM3 socket. On the mobo's specs it says this for the ram : Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600*/1800*/2133* (OC) DRAM, 16GB Max. Ok so originaly i was going to put some 1600mhz ddr3 in but the way i read these specs tells me that the max i can put in is 1333mhz then i have to oc it to get 1600mhz then 1800mhz etc etc. Is this correct the way im reading this? Or can i put 1600mhz strait in? Any help appreciated as its holding up my build as i cant decide what ram to use. Thanks!

 

[Archer0915]

Not exactly. It has to do with CPU specifications and JEDEC specifications.

I don't know what the current specifications are but 1.5v and 1333 were for DDR 3 originally IIRC.

So short answer: Yes to make the memory run at specified speeds.

 

[QuietIce]

Most boards will have a setting for 800 MHz (DDR3-1600) but not the speeds above that. However, you'll need to make that setting manually - the BIOS won't automatically put it there regardless of what RAM you have.

On a slightly different note, given a choice between DDR3-1600CL9 and DDR3-1333CL7 generally speaking you're better off with the 1333 RAM and tighter timings. However, if you're NOT getting a 'BE' CPU the 1600 is better so you have some room to adjust the reference clock ...