Compatibility Question

[zoidmaster]

I am in the process of building a new computer to replace my 7 year old Compaq. I've never actually built a computer before so I wanna make sure that my parts are compatible. According to a friend of mine the processor I've picked (with due research) is a newer processor so I don't know if anything special needs to be done. According to newegg.com the motherboard that supports this processor supports several different types of RAM such as 1800, 1333, 1600, etc. My big question is (and if its been answered elsewhere and I missed it I apologize) the RAM a computer uses determined only by the motherboard or also by the processor?

The motherboard is a Asus Sabertooth 990FX
The RAM is G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series
The processor is AMD FX-6100 Zambezi

If more information is needed let me know and I can post complete specifications from Newegg.

[henpecked1]

RAM configurations are motherboard dependent. While the CPU may be the beating heart of your system, consider the motherboard to be the core body of your system. The bridge chips (north and south) are responsible for all the interfacing and addressing that goes on. Each manufacturer will have a list of certified (they may use the word verified) brands, timing and bandwidths that are compatible. You will probably also stumble upon a list of compatible CPUs. Generic RAM can usually run okay with a wide variety of boards but do not necessarily provide the capability or reliability of the big name brands.

[Xlphos]

Hello,

What exactly are you using the computer for? gaming will have higher requirements while surfing n word processing etc. will not exactly need a super computer.

Depending on your requirements you maybe able to buy a motherboard, CPU and ram as a bundle saving the hassle and worry about incompatibility.

[zoidmaster]

The computer is for gaming (otherwise I could not be picking out high end motherboards and processors hehe). I want a build thats reliable as well as powerful. As far as I know these are the primary parts I need to focus on (as well as the parts my friend assisting me in this endeavor knew nothing about). If you have any suggestions on this matter or perhaps know if these parts aren't quite as compatible as they need to be please let me know. I wish to finalize my build and make sure all the pieces will work together properly before I start purchasing parts so I can avoid unnecessary returns.

[henpecked1]

The FX series processors from AMD are not getting great reviews. Not that they wouldn't do what you want, but benchmarks now are showing the 1090t's and the phenom black editions perform better in some aspects. Check out the benchmarks from ANANDTECH and a few others before purchasing a newer processor. For my own rig, I went with the phenom 975 because there were no programs taking advantage of the 6 core processors at that time. The board and ram you've chosen seem like solid choices. ASUS boards and Gigabyte boards seem to be the top dogs on the market right now. Gskill ram hasn't really made it to the top of the pile, but I hear good things about them and they can be very fast. Of course, when we're talking milliseconds it's not really speed you can see on your screen, so for many a decent set of kingston sticks are just as good.

[zoidmaster]

Thanks for the information regarding my predicament. I'll definitely compare their benchmark scores before I finalize my processor choice. Thank you for all the help you guys gave me in this endeavor.