Question about pairing ram

Matt_w · 11-08-2009, 02:44 PM

Hello all, i recently purchased a crosshair III motherboard, phenom II 965 cpu and 8 gigs (4 x 2) of dominator ram. I ended up RMA the motherboard cuz it was defective, and during the downtime i bought myself a noctua heatsink for my cpu without thinking. I just realised it most likely will not be able to be installed properly (the fan pushing through the fins) because of how close the DIMM slots are to the cpu area.. so my question is this. I know ram works better in pairs... but would i be able to just use the 2 3 and 4 DIMM slots with 2 gigs in ea, and leave the 1st dimm slot empty to fit the fan?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820145264 - my ram

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813131392 - my motherboard.

Thanks in advance guys.

Matt_w · 11-08-2009, 03:33 PM

One other question if you guys dont mind. It says in the customer reviews of this ram on newegg that it never comes stock ay 1600 mhz and i need to manually do it. Ive never OCed anything in my life (lol) so i was just wondering is it as simple as going into the bios on the crosshair 3 and manually setting it to that? Do i need to change to voltages? Thanks in advance.

**Tyree** · 11-08-2009, 05:23 PM

Your best solution would be to run ONE pair of the RAM. 4GB is more than sufficient and filling all the RAM slots on a Mobo can cause Voltage issues.

Matt_w · 11-08-2009, 06:53 PM

Ok thanks, and last question! Im kinda thrown off by the coloured dimm slots on the crosshair 3.. should i install my ram in 2 and 4 as usual with 2, or 3 and 4 on this board?

Thanks again!

**Tyree** · 11-08-2009, 08:39 PM

Your Mobo manual should have instructions for RAM usage.
Standard way to achieve Dual Channel operation would be one stick in the first Blue slot (next to the CPU) and one stick in the first Black Slot.

11-08-2009, 02:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
Matt_w Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 109 OS: windows xp	Question about pairing ram Hello all, i recently purchased a crosshair III motherboard, phenom II 965 cpu and 8 gigs (4 x 2) of dominator ram. I ended up RMA the motherboard cuz it was defective, and during the downtime i bought myself a noctua heatsink for my cpu without thinking. I just realised it most likely will not be able to be installed properly (the fan pushing through the fins) because of how close the DIMM slots are to the cpu area.. so my question is this. I know ram works better in pairs... but would i be able to just use the 2 3 and 4 DIMM slots with 2 gigs in ea, and leave the 1st dimm slot empty to fit the fan? http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820145264 - my ram http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813131392 - my motherboard. Thanks in advance guys.

11-08-2009, 03:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
Matt_w Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 109 OS: windows xp	Re: Question about pairing ram One other question if you guys dont mind. It says in the customer reviews of this ram on newegg that it never comes stock ay 1600 mhz and i need to manually do it. Ive never OCed anything in my life (lol) so i was just wondering is it as simple as going into the bios on the crosshair 3 and manually setting it to that? Do i need to change to voltages? Thanks in advance.

11-08-2009, 05:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
Tyree Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: May 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 5,719 OS: XP Pro-7RC-Mandriva My System	Re: Question about pairing ram Your best solution would be to run ONE pair of the RAM. 4GB is more than sufficient and filling all the RAM slots on a Mobo can cause Voltage issues. __________________ Posting your PC specs will help us to help you quicker and more efficiently.

11-08-2009, 06:53 PM	#4 (permalink)
Matt_w Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 109 OS: windows xp	Re: Question about pairing ram Ok thanks, and last question! Im kinda thrown off by the coloured dimm slots on the crosshair 3.. should i install my ram in 2 and 4 as usual with 2, or 3 and 4 on this board? Thanks again!

11-08-2009, 08:39 PM	#5 (permalink)
Tyree Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: May 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 5,719 OS: XP Pro-7RC-Mandriva My System	Re: Question about pairing ram Your Mobo manual should have instructions for RAM usage. Standard way to achieve Dual Channel operation would be one stick in the first Blue slot (next to the CPU) and one stick in the first Black Slot. __________________ Posting your PC specs will help us to help you quicker and more efficiently.