RAM Question

Hardware Hub Motherboards
1

I recently changed my mobo to an ASROCK G41C-GS mobo (free from work, brand new). It says it supports DDR3 1333 (oc) up to 8 GB (2 slots for DDR2 and 2 slots for DDR3). It  runs fine with 4 GB of DDR2 800 (2x2GB).

Here comes my problem. Last night I bought 2 x 4GB sticks of 1600 Kingston Hyper X ram (KHX1600C9D3/4G) and installed it and it wouldnt do anything. Fans spin but no POST, BIOS, nothing. I have switched the jumpers as per the manual.

I bought 1600 ram because I researched and on every page I looked, read that 1600 would work on a mobo rated at 1333, the mobo would just downclock it to 1333. Is this incorrect? Can I change the BIOS to 1333  with the DDR2 in it, shut it down  and put the DDR3 in (just a thought I just had)?

I bought the 1600 because I will be upgrading my entire system soon, and didn't want to waste my money on 1333. Maybe I made a mistake.

 

ASROCK G41c-GS,

Intel E8400,

Kingston KVR800D2N5/2G    X2,

* new KHX1600C9D3/4G       X2 (RAM in question),

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

Set everything back to default auto before changing out the RAM. Otherwise it will attempt to run the RAM at 800 MHz which is far less than what most modern DDR3 1600 MHz DIMMs are even capable of running at, even downclocked. The lowest I know DDR3 will still function at is 1066 MHz per JEDEC standard.

3

Will give it a try. Thanks for the quick reply.

4

i would say  try it with one stick of 4 GB DDR 3 and look if its boot then. offcourse you cannot run both DDR2 and DDR3 at the same time on this board, you have to choose either ddr2 or ddr3 but there might be a chance that this board will only run 2x2 GB DDR3.

5

Try updateing the bios http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/G41C-GS/?cat=Download&os=BIOS the mobo is old and mobos that support 2 diffent kinds of ram are finicky + the cpu only supports upto 1333mhz DDR3 

6

the Motherboard seems to have a very limited ram compatibility, look here it doesn't have any 1600Mhz support 

 

http://www.asrock.com/mb/memory/G41C-GS.pdf

 

this is probably because the Mobo uses DDR2 and DDR3 its like a transition board and there is one DDR3 4Gb DIMM tested working but its 1066 

 

All motherboards have a PDF like this so its smart to check for these things.....

I work at a computer shop and my boss orders incompatible ram all the time because its cheaper.... even though my links are to compatable DIMMs

7

thanks for all of the help. I wish I would have asked here before I went and bought this RAM. I live in Thailand, so service on a PC is really cheap, but components are expensive. I have tried resetting BIOS and the one stick method s with no result. I ended up taking it to the computer shop to see if they can get it to work. If they can't get it to work, I'll probably have to swap my good RAM for something not so good :(  I'm upgrading, but just a bit at a time. 

Thanks again for all of the help guys!

 

 

8

800 is actually 1600. Use 1600 FSB and if the motheboard doesn't support it use the highest you can, you won't notice a difference with that CPU. I've had my ddr3 kit in a p45 motherboard and I couldn't run it on it's proper settings (1066 FSB on E7300).

9

I ended up getting a cash refund on the RAM. Lucky me. I'm just going to save my money and get a new mobo, cpu, and RAM.