Can any types of RAM fit into any type of motherboards?

More RAM can make your PC run smoother and as I already mentioned in this post, it also effect your graphic card performance. Just like other computer parts, you want to make sure the RAM that you're about to purchase will fit shamelessly into your motherboard.

I had make a mistake when purchasing a RAM before. So, today I going to explain to you how to choose the right type of RAM for your motherboard.

First of all, you'll need to figure out the type of motherboard that you have. This is pretty easy task:

• Open your computer case and you'll see that the name of your motherboard is written on it (example: Gigabyte 78lmt-s2p)
• Then, Google your motherboard and visit the manufacture official website. (If you Google your motherboard name, most of the time the manufacture official website will appear at the first page of the search result)
• Check your motherboard specification

You will found all kind of info about your MOBO on the manufacture website, but because this tutorial is about choosing the right type of RAM, you only need to pay attention to the "memory" section. For this tutorial, I'm going to use Gigabyte 78lmt-s2p as an example.

• Next, see if your motherboard use DDR,DDR2 or DDR3 type of RAM. 
• Check the type of memory module that your MOBO can support

As you can see in the picture below, the motherboard Gigabyte 78lmt-s2p use DDR3 RAM and it' has support for 1066 and 800 MHz memory modules. The official website also tell you that this motherboard can support up to 16GB of RAM.

Screen shot from the official Gigabyte website

By using the info that we gathered, we know that this motherboard require DDR3 1066MHz memory module and the maximum amount of RAM it can support is 16GB.

Now, you can follow this very same step to determine what kind of RAM will fit into your motherboard. If you have any question, don't hesitate to leave a question at the comment section below!

Things that can effect your pc graphic performance

Planetside 2 gameplay photo by Planetside Wikia

One of the reasons peoples are still gaming on PC is because of it better graphic. Unlike consoles, PC games usually come with better graphic and the graphic get even better each coming years as the graphic card on your PC can be easily upgraded when the newest graphic card is available on the market.

However, sometime it can be a little bit confusing when it come to maximizing your PC graphic performance. You might think that you have a pretty decent graphic card, but for some reasons you're still unable to run your favorite games on ultra or at least high setting.

So, what effect your PC graphic performance during gaming?

You see, having a 1GB graphic card alone doesn't mean your will be able to play that games at ultra setting. There are several factors that can effect your graphic performance including:

• The amount of bit your GPU have
• The amount of RAM that you have

My story

I used to have 512mb graphic card before I finally have some fund to build a new PC. I install 4GB of RAM and a 1GB graphic card on my new rig but when I try to run some games such as Red Alert 3 on my new PC, I discovered that the games was not able to run on high setting. This is kinda weird for me at that moment because my new rig suppose to be able to run red alert 3flawlessly.

So what I did was, I call a friend of mine who I considered an expert and I findout that the problem was my graphic card don't have a sufficient amount of bit. (My GPU is 1GB 64bit)

To make it shot
If you're planning on purchasing a graphic card for gaming purpose, It will be wise to choose a GPU unit that is at least 256bit. Also, remember that your RAM also effect your graphic performance, so if you have less that 4GB of RAM, I think it's better to add up more RAM first before you get yourself a new GPU.

However, if you're on tight budget, I think a GPU that is 128bit might be able to run the latest titles at medium setting.

The most important part when building your own gaming PC

Gaming Rig Photo from Wikipedia | CC

Building your own PC isn't that expensive. But if you're trying to build a gaming PC, you might find yourself spending more than you want to because gaming require a high end computer.

However, if you're on a budget, like me. There is a way for you to cheaply build a gaming computer that's able to play the latest game on medium setting. The idea is to focus your budget on things that really matter and important.

So, what are the most important part when building your own gaming PC? The answer is your motherboard.

You see, other part such as RAM,CPU and graphic card can be easily upgraded later when you have some extra cash. But you won't be able to upgrade these parts if your motherboard can support them. That's why if you're thinking about building a gaming computer with low budget, I recommended that you put most of your money on the motherboard.

What you'll want to do is to check the spec of the motherboard on it official website and see if the motherboard are able to support the latest CPU, graphic card and RAM.

For example, when I'm purchasing my motherboard, I had choose Gigabyte 78lmt-s2p motherboard because of it ability to support AM3 and AM3+ CPU and DDR3 RAM.

• AM3+ is somewhat the newest CPU in the market.
• DDR3 is also the newest RAM in the market

However, despite it ability to support AM3+ CPU, I use the AM3 CPU instead due to lack of budget. But, keep in mind that I am able to upgrade the CPU anytime later because the motherboard can support the newer AM3+ CPU.

So, if you're planning on building your own gaming PC but don't have a huge budget. I recommend focusing most of your budget on motherboard so you'll be able to upgrade your computer later when you have more extra cash to spend.

Can AM3 processor fix into AM3+ motherboard?

Picture of CPU

The CPU is one expensive hardware. So, as someone who assemble his own PC, we sure enough doesn’t want to purchase the wrong CPU and end up unable to use it on our motherboard. Today I’m going to talk about whether you can install an AM3 processor on an AM3+ motherboard.

The AM3 processor can be installed on AM3 and AM3+ motherboard. However, the AM3+ processor cannot be installed on AM3 motherboard.

This is because the AM3+ processor came after the AM3. The motherboard which is designed to work with AM3 processor isn’t designed to be able to work with AM3+ because the AM3+ isn’t existed yet at that time.

However, the AM3+ motherboard had been designed to be able to work with both the AM3+ and AM3 processors.

Can you still use the AM3+ processor on the AM3 motherboard?
Well, I’ve read somewhere that some people actually succeed in making the AM3+ processor work on the AM3 motherboard by modifying the processor pin. But since this will involve modifying the hardware, I will not recommend you to do this.

To make it simple
If you have a AM3 processor, you can install it on both AM3 and AM3+ motherboard. But if you AM3+ processor, you can only install it on AM3+ motherboard.