Hello everyone, just joined the forums. I am looking to upgrade my computer in the near future. I will use it primarily for gaming. What I was wondering is if AMD plans to offer cpus that have better ddr3 support, as far as I can tell it only supports ddr3 1333 mhz. I do not want to buy a cpu and have to upgrade in 6 months just to get better ddr3 support

Welcome to the AMD Forums Kevs02Accord . AMD DDR3 mother boards support up to memory 12800/1600Mhz . For example my Asus Crosshair III Formular with a PH II X4 955 has a hard set Dram Frequency of 1600Mhz in my bios . If you are building a stout gamer I suggest you get a 790fx ( no on board Graphics ) board and pair it up with a PH II X4 955 or 965 AMD Processor . I currently run my memory at 1648Mhz 100% stable . Some AMD DDR3 mother boards may not have a hard set dram frequency setting of 1600Mhz so you will have to over clock your memory to get there from the 1333Mhz . My memory is stable up to 1704Mhz 100% stable . Hope this answers your question .

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ANTEC 1200 / PH II X4 955 @ 3.9Ghz 1.475V LQ / SB2678Mhz NB2884Mhz / CROSSHAIR III FORMULAR ROG / CORSAIR HX 1000W / Twin HIS Turbo 4890 CF 1015Mhz/1205Mhz / 8gb CORSAIR DOMINATOR DDR3 (BEMP) 1648Mhz / RAID 0 / 101% Stable / http://www.justpurefun.com/ind...p?topic=19.msg66#msg66

Edited: 11/03/2009 at 12:53 AM by pcnazz

My 790X board also allows setting the DRAM frequency at 1600MHz. I'm not sure if all 790X boards offer the same though.

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So even though the cpu freq limit is 1333 you can still run it at 1600? I am looking into get the m4a79xtd evo board as well and noticed it can oc memory to 1800, but is the cpu limiting how fast the ram can go? If so any idea when amd will release a cpu capable of handling 1600 mhz + ram?

The ram on my board defaulted to 1333 MHz but I manually set it to 1600 through the bios drop-down setting. 1800 MHz was not an option in this setting. I also manually set the ram voltage and timings to the manufacturer's recommended settings. Maybe this constitutes an overclock? If so, this is my first overclock attempt of anything. I'm not into overclocking (obviously). Everest and the bios confirms the ram speed is running at 1600MHz.

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Thats interesting. According to newegg the board can handle 1800 mhz oc. I wonder if this means you can manually set the ram voltage and oc to 1800 mhz. So it seems if I get a board that can handle higher ram speeds than the cpu is rated for I can manually oc it in the bios, is this correct? I don't want to buy a cpu that is going to limit my ram. At a minimum I want 1600mhz. I have never oced anything, but I wouldn't be opposed to if I could get more performance from an aging system. My goal is to get a system to last several years. I also need it to be flexible enough that I can upgrade parts without having to upgrade the whole thing at once. My current system is similar and it has lasted about 5 or 6 years with recent upgrades, now I am being bogged down by my pc3200 ddr and cpu.

Kevs, I wouldn't suggest building a box that will last you for "years". I suggest instead building a box that will plan to last you 18 months but with some options to upgrade if you need to. Some suggestions:

uATX 785g
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813128399
This chipset has been extremely solid and seems to be quite good at supporting 1600 DDR3 memory.

CPU:
Phenom II X2 550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16819103680
For $100 it gives you quite a bang for your buck. Unlocked means easier overclock for a beginner like yourself.

Memory:
G-Skill 1.5v 9-9-9-24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16820231193

Hard Drive:
Samsung 500GB/Platter F3 Series - important for speed/heat/power usage
500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16822152181
1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16822152185

Video:
ATI 4770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814125298

Case:
in-win case with 300 watt dual rail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16811108191


In the end it is $600 in hardware (minus the OS, Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor) that will not only last you 18 months minimum *but* also well position you for future updates into the Quad Core and additional DDR3 memory

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J&W MINIX (ITX 780g) Athlon X2 5050e
DFI LanParty JR (uATX 790gx) Athlon X4 620
DFI LanParty JR (uATX 790gx) Phenom II 940
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Hey many thanks for the info. I would say with my current build I didn't intend for it to last as long as it has, but in any case I wouldn't have been able to or wanted to upgrade it before then. So I guess with my next system I want it to be fairly nice, but still have more upgrade options, via my motherboard, than this one did. However, this might not be practical for me right now so I might just build the system as I see fit and see how long it lasts for.