LOL, RAM choice can be confusing... ;)

[Wiebob]

My son has an ASUS M5A97 mainboard, paired with an AMD FX8130 cpu. He currently has 8gb of RAM installed, but wants 32gb, so I want to get him this for Christmas.
Does anyone know if this RAM is compatible with his system? I won't post the direct link, since I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this, but a quick Google or eBay search will find it...

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Will it work okay? It's not on the "approved" list, but I know they don't test all RAM...

 

[Luminary]

Supported RAM from your Motherboard Specs Page:

4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 2133(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz ECC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel Memory Architecture

Yes, the 32 GB pack you listed should work. You are allowed to post links on this forum by the way. 😉

Also, 32 GB is a bit excessive unless your son is working with large video rendering, graphic design, or audio production. 16GB is PLENTY for nextgen gaming and day-to-day activities. Most people don't need more than 16GB.

Here's an example of a perfectly good pair of 8GB RAM modules that would be all you really need for a solid memory upgrade:

Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $59.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-10 08:34 EST-0500

That said, if your son has his heart set on 32GB it certainly won't hurt anything, it probably just won't be utilized fully.

 

[brispuss]

The following and recommended 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) @ DDR3-1600 G.Skill memory is compatible with the M5A97 -

F3-1600C9Q-32GAB <- Ares

F3-1600C9Q-32GSR <- Sniper

F3-1600C9Q-32GXM <- RipjawsX

 

[Kitanul]

Hi, after looking the motherboard specification, i found this
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97/specifications/
4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 2133(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz ECC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel Memory Architecture
And after looking for the cpu spec,
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-FX-Series%20FX-8130P.html
Memory controller The number of controllers: 1
Memory channels: 2
Channel width (bits): 72
Supported memory: DDR3-1866
DIMMs per channel: 2
Maximum memory bandwidth (GB/s): 29.9

Its safe to assume, the best ram speed supported by the system will be ddr3-1866
Any brand, as long as its Dimms(NOT SOdimms, which is for laptops), ddr3-1866 or 1600 or less will work.

 

[RandomUnknown]

All of these answers are great, but in your question you sound confused so to help you understand I'll try to simplify it.

When you look up the specs of your motherboard, If a motherboard says it uses DDR3 then any DDR3 should work. If it says up to 32GB, then it can use 4, 8GB sticks or 2, 16GB sticks but it wouldn't recognize 4, 16gb sticks.

If your board can only handle speeds of 1600mhz speeds but you buy 2133mhz, it would still work but you could only clock the RAM to 1600mhz because the board wouldn't handle more speed stablely. So spending twice as much on faster RAM you couldn't utilize would be a waste.

Your board can hold 32GB of DDR3 @ up to 1866mhz speeds (or overstocked to 2133mhz)
So your choice is exalent.

It may look confusing at first glance, but it's pretty simple really. Though, there's nothing wrong double checking so you don't waste money
😉

 

[Wiebob]

Cool, thank you very much... 😉
LOL, and he does play around a little bit with Premier Pro and After Effects, but what what he's really getting into is graphics design...so much so, that I picked him up a Surface Pro 3 a little while ago, and he spends hours on it...
Again, thank you...

 

[Luminary]

You're most welcome, cheers.

 

[Wiebob]

LOL, missed those other comments at first...but thank you...I knew a little bit of some of that, but not most...I'd read that even though his board can handle speeds of 1866mhz, it wasn't much of a difference...

 

[Wiebob]

Well...finally got around to installing his new ram, and it doesn't work at all...put the old ram in, and it's fine again...put the new ram in again, very carefully, making sure it's seated properly, and nothing...the mobo is getting power, but nothing happens, not even the BIOS splash screen... 🙁

 

[Wiebob]

Okay, this time tried the MemTest button on the mobo, and maybe thay helped...maybe. It boots past the BIOS splash screen now, but now, even more scary, I'm getting a message saying that "Your PC needs to be repaired". If I shut everything down, replace the old RAM, and turn it back on, everything starts normally.

 

[Wiebob]

All I can say is, OMFG...I was just looking at the clips on either end, that hold the ram in place, and one looked, literally, slightly off from the others, so tried to give it a push...then pushed MUCH harder...and it clicked. Did the same for the others, and they all clicked. I've never had to put that much force into pushing the ram chips in. But it's booting just fine now...wow...live and learn... 😉