Question Upgrading ASUS Maximus VII Hero, what to mix in!

[exasusfan]

Hi folks,

So I am trying to figure out what to do about memory upgrades on my old system.

It is ROG Maximus VII Hero motherboard.

Getting a used Intel i74790K, (i5 ATM) got a good cooler and 1k Silent pro gold PSU

New Crucial 1Tb SSD to go on the pcie 16x slot,

GPU on the other, red slot, thereby halving it down to 8x as I understand from another post here.

(I Have the same setup at the moment, but only 500gb SSD which I will move to the M2 socket.
I think this is ok and will work)

So the memory.
I am not sure what to buy. Been looking at the QV list in the Asus manual till my head is spinning and trying to find modules, checking online all places, adds, to be the best setup.

My Comments:
I am clueless on the memory to buy, got very confused, going with used modules, budget friendly, I want to go to 32Gb. I know this board can be fussy on memory modules.

Not sure if best to buy 4 x 8Gb or 2 x 16Gb? ( I have just 2x4 on B1 + B2, they don’t work plugged in any other way) Like any advice on this.

I have no clue what is the best option for optimal performance or stability etc?

I am not sure I should be sticking rigidly to the part numbers in the manual, and sequential numbers somebody told me?

I am not sure of what speed to get (I read this processor goes up to 1600mhz ddr3)

I also read 2400mhz would be best, I have no idea.

I narrowed it down to 2 makers, Corsair and G-skill.

If I go down to 1600mhz, I can find a set for sure, common used, will I see much difference in performance between 1600 or higher, and 2400mhz?

I can use the XMP auto clocking, I’m not an expert I just tick boxes and re-start.

What I have looked for so far from the Mobo manual.

DDR3 1866Mhz:

CORSAIR CMD32GX3M4A1866C9 (Ver3.24)(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 9-10-9-27 1.5

CORSAIR CMT32GX3M4X1866C9(Ver3.23)(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 9-10-9-27 1.5

CORSAIR CMZ32GX3M4X1866C10 (Ver3.23)(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 10-11-10-27 1.5

G.SKILL F3-14900CL10Q-32GBZL(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 10-11-10-30 1.5

G.SKILL F3-1866C9Q-32GXM(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 9-10-9-28 1.5

DDR3 2133Mhz:

CORSAIR CMD32GX3M4A2133C9 (Ver4.21)(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 9-11-11-31 1.65

G.SKILL F3-2133C10Q-32GSR(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 10-12-12-31 1.5

G.SKILL F3-2133C11Q-32GZL(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 11-11-11-31 1.5

DDR3 2400Mhz

G.SKILL F3-2400C11Q-32GXM(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 11-13-13-31 1.65

KINGSTON KHX24C11T3K4/32X(XMP) 32GB ( 4x 8GB ) DS-- 9-9-9-24 1.65

So any help and guidance much appreciated or just a ‘buy this’ would be help to find my way out of my confusion.

Cheers all.

 

[Eximo]

I recommend staying away from 1.65 volt memory, that may rapidly kill your CPU. 2133 should be fine. So those G.Skill kits should do well.

You may not be able to boot from a PCIe drive installed in a slot. But maybe, this was a pretty high end board of the time.

 

[geofelt]

If your two sticks of ram only work on B1/B2, then I suspect that you have bent pins in your cpu socket. It is all to easy to do if you needed to wiggle the chip to seat it.
Similar ram issues are a common symptom of bent pins.
Usually, they can be nudged back in place with a needle.
Tend to that first.

If you need more ram, buy a 2 stick kit. ram runs in dual channel regardless of 2 or 4 sticks and it is easier on the memory controller.

Having sufficient ram is generally more important than the ram speed.
Integrated graphics does benefit from faster ram.

Most kits are going to work, Intel is not very sensitive to DDR3 ram.
But,, to be certain, pick a kit explicitly supported on the motherboard ram QVL list, or a kit that is supported by a ram vendor support app for your motherboard.
G.skil and Corsair have such lists.

 

[exasusfan]

I recommend staying away from 1.65 volt memory, that may rapidly kill your CPU. 2133 should be fine. So those G.Skill kits should do well.

You may not be able to boot from a PCIe drive installed in a slot. But maybe, this was a pretty high end board of the time.

Hi, thank you for the warning on the 1.65 volt, I was completely unaware of this. I have the system booting off the SSD in the Pcie slot with an adapter at the moment so I am hoping it will be ok with a bigger capacity and the M2 slot occupied too. I have read somewhere else in these forums that it should all work together, thanks for the input, appreciated.

 

[exasusfan]

If your two sticks of ram only work on B1/B2, then I suspect that you have bent pins in your cpu socket. It is all to easy to do if you needed to wiggle the chip to seat it.
Similar ram issues are a common symptom of bent pins.
Usually, they can be nudged back in place with a needle.
Tend to that first.

If you need more ram, buy a 2 stick kit. ram runs in dual channel regardless of 2 or 4 sticks and it is easier on the memory controller.

Having sufficient ram is generally more important than the ram speed.
Integrated graphics does benefit from faster ram.

Most kits are going to work, Intel is not very sensitive to DDR3 ram.
But,, to be certain, pick a kit explicitly supported on the motherboard ram QVL list, or a kit that is supported by a ram vendor support app for your motherboard.
G.skil and Corsair have such lists.

Thank you for responding, and the information about the bent pins does make sense as I also replaced the small cooler with a much larger one recently and since that time, the other channels were 'dead' I will check it out first as you suggest.

The info on the 2 sticks is great, I didn't know that either about the load on the memory controller and if the bent pins fix doesn't work this will be a solution for me. I did contact ASUS at great length about this problem and they just said the motherboard was toast and as it was so old reluctant to give any in depth support. Interestingly they didnt mention about the bent pins so I am grateful to you for mentioning that.

I thought it was best to play it safe and pick from the vendor list so thanks for the confirmation on that too.

I should be able to move forward now without any more doubts, cheers both of you.