Member Avatar for theashman88

Hi I currently bought a Biostar TPower I55 motherboard with a 2.8 ghz quad core intel processor. My next move is to get some memory, but I was wondering if I could get some advice as to what to get.

On the back of the box of the motherboard it says

--Memory--
4xDDR3 DIMM Memory Slot
Support Dual Channel DDR3 2000(OC)/1866(OC)/1600(OC)/1333/1066/800

I'm not really familiar with what Dual Channel is and all those numbers. Last question also is DDR3 the best ram you get can get now a days? I would truely appreciate any help with my question.

  • 3 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 88 Views
  • 11 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

Generated

Practical buying plan for a Biostar TPower I55 (LGA desktop board with four DIMM slots) and a 2.8 GHz quad-core CPU:

Buy DDR3 desktop modules sold as matched kits (2x or 4x) so capacity, speed and timings are identical. For general desktop use in that era, 8 GB as 2x4 GB is balanced; 16 GB (2x8 GB or 4x4 GB) helps heavy multitasking, editing or VMs. Choose unbuffered, non-ECC DIMMs—those are the consumer type the board expects.

How to get the rated speeds and stable operation:

  • Populate the slots the manual specifies for dual-channel (color-coded pairs) so the board actually runs in dual-channel mode.
  • Modules with higher advertised MHz than standard will only run at those speeds if the BIOS memory profile is enabled or timings/voltage are adjusted. The CPU memory controller can also limit what is achievable, so higher-rated modules will often fall back to the lowest common JEDEC speed when mixed.
  • Match voltage and CAS latency when buying replacements; mixing different speeds/timings usually forces everything down to the slowest module and can cause instability.

Troubleshooting and practical tips:

  • Buy a single kit rather than mixing brands. Test new RAM with a bootable memory tester (memtest86+) before putting the system under load.
  • If the system fails to boot after installing faster modules, reset CMOS, try one stick at a time to identify a bad module, then enable the board memory profile or manually set frequency/timings within safe voltage limits.
  • Check the motherboard manual and its QVL list if available; reputable kit makers with warranties (Crucial, Kingston, Corsair, G.Skill) make compatibility problems less likely.

Note: this thread is from 2010; DDR4/DDR5 exist now but are not backward compatible, so the TPower I55 requires DDR3. References in earlier replies by and point toward speed labels and OC notes—above steps explain how to use those settings safely.

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for finito

DDR3 is the best RAM available now a days, also the most expensive.

Dual Channel is basically lets the machine do more in heavy loads. for a better explanation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel_architecture#Purpose

2000(OC)/1866(OC)/1600(OC)/1333/1066/800

Are the rated speeds, higher the better.

Member Avatar for caperjack

2000(OC)/1866(OC)/1600(OC

and the oc means the board has over clocked the ram to achieve this speed

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.