Trying to match memory on older PC - OCZ AMD Black edition

[EvilHomer]

I had to give my computer to my son and am trying to resurrect my old gaming PC. It was never state of the art but It was my build on a budget. Everything (except for a HDD) seems to be working well. It currently only had 4gb memory right now and I was looking to add more. The problem is I can not find memory with the same specs or am even sure how to match or what would even be compatible. I currently have OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800). ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO Motherboard and AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition CPU. I don't want to dump much more money into this as it was fun a while back OC'ing. But I do not have as much time to play with it as much as I would like anymore. Is there any way to figure out which memory would be compatible with this? I really do not want to replace it completely if possible. I know this is a dinosaur right now but it is what I have to work with. Thank you in advance.

 

[Valantar]

In my experience, as long as you don't plan on overclocking your RAM, pretty much anything with matching specs goes. YMMV, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if another 2x2GB DDR3-1600 kit from a completely different manufacturer would work just fine alongside it. Just make sure that the timings are similar, and if necessary adjust them to match the highest latency kit (i.e. if your current kit is CL8 and you get a CL10 kit, set them both to CL10).

Then again, the difference between a 2x2GB and a 2x4GB kit at Newegg is $20.

 

[EvilHomer]

Thank you so much for getting back to me so fast. If I were to buy 2 x 4gb. What would be the best memory option for the MB and CPU? Or where can I go to find out. I used to OC the heck out of this thing but would only do mild OC'ing now to keep the blood pumping. Next year I will build a new one. Again thank you for your help.

 

[FFFF]

Just find the timings for your DD3 1600 from BIOS or using a tool like AIDA64 and then just browse for the cheapest one you can get with the same timings.

 

[Valantar]

Yeah, pretty much. And if exactly matching timings are expensive or difficult to find, a step or two up should work just fine given that you adjust your current kit to match (if you go for a new 2x2GB kit). You could always look up the QVL for your motherboard, but chances are with a board that old most items on it are discontinued.

 

[Elixer]

I am not so sure getting 2 more DIMMs is a good idea, I would probably just get 2 x 4 (8GB)or 2 x 8 (16GB) DIMMs, and call it a day.

You can use CPU-Z (free program) to check what the RAM's timings are, and who actually makes it, since OCZ just slaps a label on it, and calls it a day.

I seem to recall that mobo having some issues with 4 DIMMs, so, I don't like people wasting $$$ on such old equipment.

 

[Smoblikat]

Its not a guarentee of course, but in my experience, all memory between 1066 - 1600mhz, and between 1.35v and 1.65v should work fine. I think your board is limited to 1600mhz on the memory without OCing the FSB, so if you got memory with a higher frequency than that, you would have to run it at 1600 and step the timings down to get the most performance out of it. Your board is also limited to 16gb total IIRC. One thing that im not sure if it matters or not, is if your DIMMs have chips on one or both sides, I have ran into compatibility issues when trying to use single sided RAM with dual sided...........is that called single rank and dual rank? I should probobly look it up

On a side note, you might be able to unlock 2 extra cores on that processor. Your mobo has a southbridge of SB710, I cant remember if that was the first one that allowed core unlocking or if you needed to have a SB750+ board. The feature might be called ACC, or UCC, or even just core unlocker.