What is a memory controller?

[Noah_7]

I'm building my first pc and I chose the AMD FX- 8320 as my cpu. Online it says that the specs for the memory controller are
Memory type- DDR3-1866
Channels- Dual Channel
Supports ECC- Yes
Maximum bandwidth- 29,866.66 MB/s

I don't even know what a memory controller does exactly and I don't understand any of those specs. Does this mean that I need DDR3-1866 memory? Can someone just explain what a memory controller is and what those specs mean?

 

[The_Tester]

It's basically the core hardware needed for the CPU to make sense of what the ram is telling it and vice/versa. Those number translate into the type of ram revision (DDR3) and speed (1866 MHz) that the cpu was intended to be used with. Dual channel is a RAM utilization technology that just makes the ram perform better as a whole when used with two sticks or modules. ECC (error correcting code) is mostly used for zero error tolerance situation and really does not apply much to the regular consumer market. Maximum bandwidth is the theoretical "fastness" of the cpu in terms of how much stuff it can compute.

Way to much info to go blasting at you right off, i'll leave that to google or the like. But basically, for that processor you will need/want DDR3 ram. Any "speed" of DDR3 should function, but it never hurts to get the faster stuff (up to a base spec of 1866). And preferably two sticks so as to make use of the dual channel capability.