[SOLVED] Help with RAM on ASUS Rampage III Formula

Vellaura

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Nov 30, 2020
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Hello all!

I come here after almost a week or more of my own personal research to try find the question to my answer, however difficult it may be.

Basically I have a much much older system. It was running beautifully fulfilling all my needs for all those years until a couple of sticks died. So basically I'm on only 4 gig's of ram (yeah I'm one of those 50 million chrome tab peoples so life is hard atm aha).

After it died I went out to buy some new DDR3 ram, seeing there where plenty of options available I went with some Kingston (KVR16N11/4) sticks that matched all the compatibility requirements of my motherboard. Assuming ram would be the easiest part to replace I went ahead installed the sticks only to be greeted with no post. I went through all the troubleshooting options, updated my bios etc, still no post, long story short, I returned them (luckily).

So now I'm out and about doing even further research to absolutely try and make sure the next set of sticks I get work. Before people flame me for getting a new system, I am currently in the process of saving money to get a sweet new pc :). Unfortunately I don't have cash to splash.

I have a ASUS Rampage III Formula with a Intel core i7 950. Currently running 2x (KVR1333D3N9/2G) which have lasted since my pc's birth "knocks on wood".

The ram that I'm really keen on having researched which also my local pc stores have are these, but I don't know enough to be certain.

I've come across a lot of similar g skill sticks with slight variations in the model for example 8gbrl instead of 8gbxl. Upon research couldn't find any info on difference. I've also read g.skill is a really good brand, apparently Kingston was bad, I honestly thought they where really good.

So I've come here as a last resort hoping I can get some sound advice. Any information at all is appreciated. Please Obiwan Tomoby, your my only hope :(.

Thank you :)

TLDR: Trying to find memory compatible for my motherboard before I make another silly purchase. ASUS Rampage III Formula - Intel Core i7 950
 
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Solution
No, all DDR3 memory are not the same. There are countless variations between makes/models/components used with the memory sticks.

For that motherboard, optimal memory use is when 3 (yes 3) identical memory modules are installed in the proper slots. For these systems, it is common to see 6GB, 12GB, and 24GB installed.

Vellaura

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Nov 30, 2020
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Thank you for your reply!

I currently have slot A2 and B2 occupied, so every other slot.

I've had a look at the vendor list already but it's very outdated, I've seen sticks that are similar but that's about it.

Excuse my ignorance but arnt all ddr3 memory built identically? Other then specifications like speed, size etc what factors can result in incompatibility.

For example those g skills I linked have everything my mobo says is okay.

Thank you :)
 

COLGeek

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No, all DDR3 memory are not the same. There are countless variations between makes/models/components used with the memory sticks.

For that motherboard, optimal memory use is when 3 (yes 3) identical memory modules are installed in the proper slots. For these systems, it is common to see 6GB, 12GB, and 24GB installed.
 
Solution

Vellaura

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Nov 30, 2020
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Oh ok, so how can i narrow down what sticks will work, surely some modern ones should work right?

For example, I had another look at the vendor list and found these

https://www.gskill.com/specification/165/175/1532315245/F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL-Specification

My local pc store has these.

https://www.gskill.com/specification/165/176/1532074030/F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL-Specification

They are identically the same (other then the speed of course), is this a good basis to go off?

Also is XMP needed to downclock? One thing I know is that my mobo downclocks the speed to 1066mhz, do these have such profiles? How can you know?

Thanks :)
 
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Vellaura

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If anyone checks this in the future, I went ahead and bought the

2x4G) F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL 1333Mhz RL RipjawsX

can confirm they work :)

Thanks for the replies, someone please mark as solved.