Is a 1866 memory compatible with an H77 board?

T

TeruTeru

Posts: 48   +1
I just came from a retail store to check on prices but most of their parts weren't available anymore. Instead of a G. Skill Ripjaws 2x4 8gb DDR-3 1600, the clerk offered me a Crucial Ballistix 2x4 8gb DDR-3 1866 memory. The board I'm gonna buy is an Asrock H77 Pro4/Mvp but looking at their memory support list http://www.asrock.com/mb/memory.asp?Model=H77 Pro4/MVP, it doesn't seem compatible.

The clerk had told me it was compatible and that he had tried it before but I'm not sure if it'd have unwanted effects over some period of time. (I got drawn in by how the memory looks and its LED so I'm including it as a choice). Thanks.
 
It will be compatible, worst case scenario is just setting your 1866Mhz RAM to run at 1600Mhz. You're getting quicker RAM for free.
 
According to your motherboard specifications, it only supports up to 1600. So while higher speeds might work I would stick to 1600. Crucial makes 1600 with the LEDs. I have some myself.
 
Thanks for the fast reply. Could you elaborate on this more though? I'm not sure I understood that much.
 
Oh sorry, I was asking slh28

mailpup yes your suggestion must be the best for this situation however, I haven't seen them with Crucial 1600 ones. Perhaps I'll need to stick with Ripjaws after all?
 
The 1600 and 1866 are the MHz - the max rated frequency of the RAM sticks. This is similar to the 3.2GHz etc CPU specifications you see.

The MOBO supports up to 1600MHz memory due to the H77 chipset when not overclocking - it's a limitation. If you purchase faster memory, it'll just run at the slower speed.

I have never heard of an issue where fast RAM was causing problems when down-clocked.
 
Isn't the 1600Mhz limit only applicable when using the CPU's onboard graphics?

Jan Metica said:
Oh sorry, I was asking slh28

mailpup yes your suggestion must be the best for this situation however, I haven't seen them with Crucial 1600 ones. Perhaps I'll need to stick with Ripjaws after all?
Click to expand...
OK, the Board clocks the RAM, the RAM doesn't clock the board. So, you should be able to use the 1833Mhz RAM.

1600Mhz is an artificial limit placed on the system, in order to be able to use the CPU's internal graphics.

With that said, you should still use a board that allows overclocking, to be able to run the RAM at its native speed.

All Gigabyte boards list RAM speeds in excess of 2GHz as an option,.

If you're stuck on whatever brand you're going to buy, you should at least spend the extra ten bucks, (as was previously suggested), on the AsRock board that can be overclocked.

TBH, I always buy Gigabyte boards, as even their cheapest Matx boards can be overclocked.

(Although, being a boring old man, I never bother with the process).
 
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Thanks for all your informative responses.

Now I get how it works so I'll ditch the 1866 one for a 1600 (Most likely going to get a Ripjaws one). For the board, I don't plan to overclock at all so I'll stick with the H77 one. Unfortunately, the only available Gigabyte board I found was a H61M one (retail stores in the Philippines tend to have limited inventory). The only H77 ones available were AsRock, Asus, and MSI.

Anyway, thanks again for the information. It surely did help.
 
I just got home from the retail store and sadly, there's no more Asrock H77 Pro available. So it's just either Asus or MSI which I can't tell the difference from. Either is fine though right?
 
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