Thread: How to Upgrade RAM with my GIGABYTE motherboard version

Hi,I have the GIGABYTE P55A-UD4P rev. 1.0 motherboard still big copperCPU heat sink is covering one of my four RAM slots. Thereforepresently, I just have 2x2GB of G.Skill DDR3 memory. It has been efor the past 2 or 3 years, but roughly my software programs are usingup to 97% of my memory at present, which means it is time to upgrade.
I mistily recall reading that I required an even number of sticks. Ihave this belief that using 3 slots and leaving the 4th emptywouldn't work, or at least, wouldn't use the stick in the 3rd slot. Idon't recall whether this was a limitation due to my OS or due to themotherboard, or also if I just imagined this complete idea up out ofnonexistence, Therefore, I'm hoping one of you might help me Through helpful explanations.

Great question. This is hard to reply as each motherboard manufacturer is different and Not have a guarantee that universal solution. I have been unable to get an reply from the online manual. Generally, this setup maintained with newer boards such as yours. Have you tried running your system with the 3 sticks? What i think will occur is you will miss Dual Channel capability since you'll be running at an odd number of sticks. 2 sticks installed in the first and third module will grant you to use dual channel, but adding a third might disable this. Adding a 4th will re-enable this. Can someone here affirm this???

Thank you for the welcome! I've actually visited these great forums a number of times over the years, but it is always a pleasure to return.
It seems that my RAM slots are color coded, white and blue. The three slots are usable from right to left at respectively white, blue, and white. The first white and first blue slots are presently being,used my by living memory sticks. I'm imagining the white slots are 1 channel and the blue slots are the another one. I haven't attempted putting in a third stick only to determine what occurs out of fear of breaking something. Even, I don't have a third stick laying around either. If it would be beneficial from a total RAM capability standpoint to use three of the four total slots, I'd surely do so. Without reassurances, though, I'll likely just replace my 2GB sticks with 4GB ones.

A friend recently hinted my motherboard might not be capable with 4GB sticks, as 4GB sticks didn't be rear when my motherboard was bought. I have no reason to doubt his suspicions, but it'd be wise of me to find out for sure before buying any novel RAM. Would anyone please verify for me my motherboard can handle 4GB sticks of RAM? If it is a matter of BIOS version, I should note that I recently attempted updating my BIOS but the latest version (F14) available on GIGABYTE was incompatible .

From their memory support database, they were capable to supply support for a Samsung 4GB stick. But this doesn't mean it just supports Samsung brands. The answer is yes, you can add 4GB sticks as long as your total memory amounts to 16GB or less, as that is the most your system can manage.

I recently bought an RPG game called The Witcher 2. I'm surprizing if any of you hardware guru's or tech-savvy deities might have some suggestions with respect to a video card upgrade which would be most appropriate for CD Projekt Red's "Red Engine" (the game engine created specifically for The Witcher 2 PC game). For the record, my current video card which I wish to replace is a Radeon 5770 (which appears poor to function pretty with high graphics settings).

Certain, Still it's begin someplace other than 1st . Is ur 5770 putted in the 1st PCIe x16 one-armed bandit or other? The other slot is set to run at just x8. Even, Witcher came out with patch 1.1. What are your temps while playing at high settings? Check it with Speed Fan. The 5770 isn't a badly card and a large no. of times there are other answers to acquiring a better heart out of your card. Other good question to ask yourself is what kind of CPU are you running?

from what i feel running your PC with 3 sticks of memory may disable dual channel but enhance your total memory. I've watched few motherboards that will reply with a message at post saying dual channel disabled due to odd numbered installed memory sticks.

I'm also unsure about yours while. Why not find another fan to fit in your PC that will release up space for you to install the 4th stick? as far as the game goes, check out what others are saying about the game performance.

I know with benchmarks, games can bench high/low results at different resolutions. Few games will bench better at a specific higher resolution than lower,but as you can't appear to get it working decently check this site out...

That you don't know for sure if dual channel is also being disabled all together, more memory is better. It might run dual channel for the first bank of memory and merely single on the 3rd. who knows? unless you check any indication at post.
Sometimes there can be somewhat feels like hot paste in areas but doesn't mean its not removable. one thought that came to mind was that maybe it was glued down cause whoever built the PC didn't have a way to fix down the fan. Maybe they missed the clips or something and determined to hot glue it down to steady it.

If you could snap a picture of the heat sink area with the glue it would be helpfully.
I'm sure they make some solution out there that can help remove the glue.
If you're not up to changing out the heatsink/fan then i don't know what to tell ya. feels appear to be important to you when you have a 4th RAM slot you could utilize that could assist you with performance.
I would rather swap out the fan to use the 4th RAM slot to ensure I'm not just getting the maximum amount of memory but to even sure they are running dual channel at their most extreme level of performance.

Thanks for the reply. I may have been wrong when I said my fan was glued to my CPU. I manufacture the PC almost 3 years before with the help of a friend therefore my biological memory could be at error. The fan being used is one like to this Zalman copper one. I mistily recall putting the Arctic Cooling paste over the back of the CPU after mounting it to the motherboard, then carefully placing the heat sink on top of the rear slope of the CPU. For few reason I thought it would act like glue sticking the heat sink to the rear of the CPU, but now I also remember using mounts to screw the fan down to the motherboard therefore I'm not really sure how difficult or risky it'd be to remove the fan entirely. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks again for the input.

If you aren't sure you put the arctic cooling paste, then i would extremely suggest you delete it and apply some on there.
it's not an adhesive material of any kind. it helps transfer the heat from the CPU faster to your fan and it makes a difference.
if i'm not mistaken, that zalman fan bolts down to the bottom of the motherboard.
Therefore yeah in order to take off the fan you would have to delete the motherboard from the case to detach the fan. Only a thought, but if your fan is like to this with all those fins and your saying it gets in the way of 1 RAM slot you could clip off few of those fins in the area where it gets in the way.
it won't hurt the fan by clipping off a little section. at this point its up to you what you decide to do.