Need new MOBO to fit my current build

SCHawks73

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My build is as follows:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

Graphics Card: XFX Radeon HD 5850

Power Supply: CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W

Mother Board: ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD

CPU Cooler: XIGMATEK HDT-S963 92mm Rifle

Old Ram (8GB 4 x 2GB): G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

New Ram: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Not sure if the Case/SSD/HD/CD drive matter but I can add those too if needed.

The reason I need a new MOBO is that I am currently using the (old) RAM noted above, but the game that I play, and is actually 80+% of my computer usage, uses about 7-7.5 GB of RAM (due to what many call memory leaks, but that is beyond my comprehension), so I decided to upgrade.

I purchased the above (new) RAM seeing how my current MOBO can hold 16gb, but after constant crashes, I was told that it CAN hold 16GB, but only in a 4x4GB format, not 2x8GB, so since my MOBO is a couple years old already, I was wondering if there was a cheap alternative that can fit my build and work with the 2x8GB sticks that I have.

I am looking for something around the $100 range, but have a little flexability in price.
 
Odds have it the RAM will work just fine. Your board was released around when my P55 board was and it also has a 16GB limit. I can stuff 32GB of RAM in it if I wanted to without any problems.

It wont hurt to try so come back with the results. I'm also interested in this game you are referring to, as I have a plethora of games and none of them use over 3GB of RAM. That includes Planetside 2 which so many people claimed took so much RAM. You probably just need to shut stuff off in the background.
 
I apologize for not mentioning this in the OP, as I thought I did but must have forgot.

I tried installed the 2x 8GB sticks in the MOBO and it would randomly shut off on me. Sometimes it would blue screen with the majority of the time it's similar to just holding down the power button until it shuts down

Sometimes I could be on the computer for 20 minutes and it shut down 2-3 times, sometimes it would take 2-3 hours before a shutdown, and other times it could go 2-3 days without issue.

I asked on the official Corsair forums if it was compatible and a non-employee but someone with over 6k post counts in the forum told me that it is not compatible so a buddy of mine suggested just getting a new MOBO for 70-100 bux and use the RAM that I recently got.

The game I play is LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) and though it is not a RAM intensive game by any means, some of the self proclaimed computer guru's say that their engine sucks and their is some MAJOR memory leakage if you play for more than a couple hours. I raid in this game and when I first boot up and load the game, I can go in a raid on full graphics with no issue, after about 2-3 hours, the lag becomes overwhelming and I have to restart the client to even be able to move properly.
 
I apologize for not mentioning this in the OP, as I thought I did but must have forgot.

I tried installed the 2x 8GB sticks in the MOBO and it would randomly shut off on me. Sometimes it would blue screen with the majority of the time it's similar to just holding down the power button until it shuts down

Sometimes I could be on the computer for 20 minutes and it shut down 2-3 times, sometimes it would take 2-3 hours before a shutdown, and other times it could go 2-3 days without issue.

I asked on the official Corsair forums if it was compatible and a non-employee but someone with over 6k post counts in the forum told me that it is not compatible so a buddy of mine suggested just getting a new MOBO for 70-100 bux and use the RAM that I recently got.

The game I play is LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) and though it is not a RAM intensive game by any means, some of the self proclaimed computer guru's say that their engine sucks and their is some MAJOR memory leakage if you play for more than a couple hours. I raid in this game and when I first boot up and load the game, I can go in a raid on full graphics with no issue, after about 2-3 hours, the lag becomes overwhelming and I have to restart the client to even be able to move properly.
The problem from what it seems could be that you need to manually set the timings, voltage, and speed of the RAM in the bios, then add volts to the IMC and possibly the NB.

If you absolutely feel like buying a new board then the ASRock 990FX Extreme 3 is a good choice.

I used to play LOTRO when it first went F2P. At that time I had 4GB of RAM and had no issues with RAM. Later on when I had a 2500k and 8GB I tried picking it back up and had my pagefile disabled and played without issue. I suggest closing out of everything before playing and go to task manager to check how many processes are running and how much RAM is being used by Windows. In Windows 7, a clean install with nothing else running should be between 700MB and 1GB with 33 processes.
 
The problem from what it seems could be that you need to manually set the timings, voltage, and speed of the RAM in the bios, then add volts to the IMC and possibly the NB.

I'm sorry, but you might as well be speaking Greek :p I know how to get into the bios, in that I know to mash the button when the initial load up splash screen pops up, but I haven't done anything in there besides selecting what drive to boot from (which I don't think is in the bios), though I would like to learn how to OC my CPU eventually as my AMD 955 Black Edition is said to be super easy to OC.


If you absolutely feel like buying a new board then the ASRock 990FX Extreme 3 is a good choice.

If the bios thing doesn't work out, I will look into that MOBO, thank you for the suggestion.

I used to play LOTRO when it first went F2P. At that time I had 4GB of RAM and had no issues with RAM. Later on when I had a 2500k and 8GB I tried picking it back up and had my pagefile disabled and played without issue.

As far as the game, you aren't missing much, it's kinda been down hill since about the time F2P started. I also ran 4GB up until F2P with no issues, then decided to run with 8GB as I was doing more big group action and like my graphics really high, but never used much more than 1/2 of the 8GB.

Ever since the latest expansion though, many people have complained on how much RAM it now uses, especially when playing for more than a couple hours and I guess it "leaks" to the point you have to restart your client every few hours... really silly but again, it has been going downhill for a while so it's pretty par for the course.

I suggest closing out of everything before playing and go to task manager to check how many processes are running and how much RAM is being used by Windows. In Windows 7, a clean install with nothing else running should be between 700MB and 1GB with 33 processes.

I am running about 90 processes and 2.2GB with no programs running. I don't feel like my computer is ever running slow though, only the game feels slugging after playing for a few hours, other than that, no issues (with the 4x2GB sticks that is, obviously there is an issue with the 2x 8GB sticks only with the random shut downs)

I really appreciate your help, thank you!
 
Yea, that is way too much crap running in the background man. You need to lower than number and I bet your LOTR problem disappears. I'll look into the game and it's memory problem for any future people posting about it. Now that I'm running a lower end rig.
 
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