Memory set at wrong speed

[Soprano187]

Hello all, I've got myself in a bit of a pickle and wondered if someone could help me out?

I have just built my first ever PC. Felt good tuning it on. However I immediately noticed that on the boot screen it showed "DDR3 1333mhz". Thing is, I put 2x4gb Corsair XMS 1600mhz in there. So I entered the bios and changed the setting to 1600mhz. My mobo is an Asus m5a97 2.0.

After continuing and getting Windows 8 installed, I had a quick look to check that it is a simple case of changing this one setting. I read that in fact it is not, and other, more complicated sounding settings also needed changing. I also read that 1600mhz might be unstable with AMD CPUs. Mine is an FX-6300.

So I got scared and went back into the bios to change it back. Instead, I changed it to "auto", and left it. After an hour or so I went back into the bios to check the setting and now the speeds that I can select are "weird". It is currently showing as running at 1152 and the other numbers are not round either.

What should I do? I just want the memory running at a sensible speed for my setup. I am using this for gaming but I question the difference in FPS from say 1333 to 1600mhz anyway (probably negligible?) so sensibleness is more important to me than absolute max speed. Saying that, if 1600mhz is still sensible then that would be nice

Thanks for reading my question, I hope someone can help me correct my silly mistakes!

 

[Soprano187]

Thanks for your answer, yes I made sure to install in the high performance slots so that's fine, I'll try to reload the settings first then edit this post, thanks man.

Edit: Restoring defaults has set it back to 1333, thanks! I missed that little option in the corner there, sorry.

So master of motherboards, you reckon I should leave it as is or push for 1600 somehow?

 

[Soprano187]

I don't see a D.O.C.P. setting so I went with Auto.

I have since noticed this behaviour however:

When I select high performance under System in EZ Mode, the Ram speed seems to change. It was something like 14xxmhz last time I looked. This is what I did when I first set up. When I restore optimal settings, this sets it to Normal under System in EZ Mode and my ram reverts back to the 1333mhz speed.

You've helped me enough already and I'm ready to just go along with one option, to hell with the extra 0.5 fps, so I think i'll just restore to optimised defaults unless you think the "high performance" setting is worth it?

 

[Soprano187]

ok thanks for helping me!