Some Motherboard Questions

[Latipsify]

I currently own THIS motherboard.

I have a few questions about what I can do with it -
1)
It says on the specifications page of that website that I have a "PCI Express 3.0(IVB)/2.0 x16 slot", is that this part of the Motherboard? (The yellow bit)

If so, then I'm guessing that the PCI Express x1 slot is where my graphics card is plugged in (on the right of that photo) or is it the other way around?

2)
It says that it supports two sticks of DDR3 Ram and has a max of 16GB - is that a max of 16GB in one slot or both together?
Also, does this mean that I can buy ANY DDR3 RAM and put it in there or do I need specific sticks?

3)
Can I buy a USB 3.0 PCI Adapter that would work effectively?

Thanks, Chris

 

[Snipergod87]

1) Your graphics card is in a 16x slot (The BIG yellow one). That yellow slot pictured is PCI-Express 1x.
2) It is a max of 16GB total. Typically you can buy any DDR3 RAM. If you click on Tech Support and scroll to the bottom you will see a Memory Support list, which has listed RAM modules guaranteed to work with this board. If you currently have RAM (like 1x8GB) you should buy another stick (same model) from that manufacturer and drop it in. Pairing the same modules is always recommended for performance and compatibility reasons.
3) The USB 3.0 PCI-Express adapter should have a PCI-Express 1x interface, and it should work just fine.

 

[Latipsify]

Thanks for the help guys - just one last question, is there a big difference between 1600MHz and 1333MHz in RAM? Would it make a significant difference?

 

[2x4b]

The yellow thing in the picture is a PCI x1 (times 1 length) slot.
Your video card is likely plugged into the PCI x16 (times 16 length) slot, but I can't really tell from the picture.
Your MB supports 16GB of RAM in two slots, in other words two 8GB modules. Your Motherboard documentation should clarify this and indicate specifications for compatible RAM.
Yes, you can buy a USB 3.0 adapter card that fits your PCI (x1) slot. A quick search on NewEgg found about a half dozendifferent models.

 

[Snipergod87]

Thanks for the help guys - just one last question, is there a big difference between 1600MHz and 1333MHz in RAM? Would it make a significant difference?

Honestly no, the performance difference between the two isn't huge, and generally the price difference is rather small (few dollars). If you have a Sandy Bridge CPU iX-2xxx the ram will only run at a max of 1333Mhz, if you have an Ivy Bridge CPU iX-3xxx it will run at a max of 1600Mhz.

The H series chipset does not allow you to manually change the memory frequency if I remember correctly.

 

[Latipsify]

Ok, thanks a bunch

Chris.