[SOLVED] Want to increase RAM - question

[hondoman]

Seems a wee silly that I can't get me head around this.

I have an ASUS mobo and am AMD3 chip (AMD Fx-6200). Aye, old.

The mobo has four memory slots, but I only use one. It has a Crucial DDR3 PC3-12800H (800Mhz) card.

According to CPU-Z, the NB Frequency is 2209,7.

I want to increase to 16GB. I understand that I could simply get two new 8GB cards, but funds are tight. I'd like to just get an additional 8GB. Do I need to get 800Mhz or will 1600Mhz work with the current 800Mhz card?

Also, what is the differnce between 12800H and 12800U?

Thank you in advance.

Cheers!

 

[tennis2]

The existing stick is, in fact, a DDR3-1600MHz stick. You multiply what you see in CPU-z by 2.

You can get an additional single 8 GB stick. If possible, grab the same brand/model as the one you already have (with the same 1600MHz and timings). When you buy a kit of 2, those two sticks are tested and guaranteed to run at the advertised speeds and timings in dual channel mode. If you're using two singly(?) sold sticks in dual channel, the chances are pretty good they'll work together fine as long as they're of equal MHz and timings, but never guaranteed. You may need to manually loosen up a sub-timing or two to get them to work nicely together.

 

[Newtonius]

Do not get a RAM stick that has a different clock speed to your current stick. The 1600MHz stick will be forced to drop down to 800MHz thus making you pay more money for nothing.

However the RAM stick you have now is actually a 1600MHz stick. Check windows task manager and go to the memory section in the 'performance' tab to see the actual speed of the stick.

When you do get 2 RAM sticks, make sure you install them properly as depicted in your manual for dual-channel configuration which gives the best performance.

 

[hondoman]

Thank you for the info. Truly helpful! Cheers!