Potato
That is an LGA-1150 CPU. I do not think you can find many, or even any motherboards left in stores, only in second-hand. At any rate, finding one with a micro-ATX form factor and 4 RAM slots is even trickier, only a handful of H87M and Z87M boards fit that bill.
Edit: try to look for a B85M mobo, like the ASUS B85M-G. Those are business-grade boards and they tend to have a somewhat longer life cycle than simple desktop ones, since many companies prefer to lag 2-3 generations behind for cheaper parts (and because many pre-built manufacturers dump the remaining stock on them).
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Ah shit, I'll have a look into it. I may just return it and get the 2 8GB and convince him that its okay.
I think his PC was pre-built years ago, he added the 1060GB recently.
I might just tell him to leave it for now and he can wait to upgrade more. He did say he was thinking about a new CPU.
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Why? A 4th generation i5 should be enough for at least 1-2 year more, and by then, the Ryzen series should work out the initial kinks. Or Intel may decide to start a sane pricing policy.
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Well you can return the 2x4, sell the other 2x4 and buy 2x8 from that money.
Then it's actually not that much more. At least not as much as a new mainboard.
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Why tell people it's hard to find something when it's super easy to find them? :)
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What, micro-ATX LGA-1150 boards in stores? Most stopped stocking them last year, since manufacturing already stopped a while ago. You can mostly find leftover B85M boards now, and they are business-grade and getting more expensive, as the remaining ones get scarce too.
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Yes, but living in the age of Internet we don't have to go from store to store to find them, less than a minute and you can find several that still have couple left.
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I'd suggest first finding out if there was a specific reason for the micro-ATX mobo as the case isn't specifically micro-ATX and will support regular ATX boards.
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I don't know if the ram is DDR3 or 4 but you can make a search in pcpartpicker with the 1150 socket and only mobos with 4 ram slots
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Ahhhh! Its been so long since I've used this site that I forgot about stuff like this...
Big thank you! I'll have a look and see. He has DDR3! :D
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Does it have better selection of options than https://geizhals.eu/?cat=mbp4_1150&xf=4400_%B5ATX%7E493_4x+DDR3+DIMM ?
Replaced with .eu link to show more shops that sell them.
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As Talgaby said, finding 4 RAM slot micro-ATX motherboards is tough - there's only so much space on the small form factor, and RAM slots are the first thing to go. Populating all 4 slots also tended to add instability, particularly on cheaper motherboards.
Easiest thing is to return the memory and get new 2x8GB. And, fwiw, while most will suggest that any memory speed is fine, faster memory (ideally 3200) will help reduce micro-stutter by eliminating memory as a bottleneck.
Also, there's no real reason to upgrade to an i7. That money is better spent on a better video card.
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Yeah I'll just let him know when he comes home.
He just upgraded his video card a month ago to the GTX 1060, so he won't be upgrading that any time soon xD
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That makes sense, but a video card upgrade is still his next best upgrade (after the 16GB RAM and SSD he just got). He'll get more out of a future video card upgrade than out of a CPU upgrade, even though his CPU is much older. I don't remember what you have in your PC, but maybe a new video card for him next year could mean an upgrade to a GTX 1060 for you? Or visa versa, if you have something better already.
Games are just far more GPU dependent, to the point where 5-year-old i5 CPUs are still great and suffice for practically everything, and only start to see their limits when paired with really powerful video cards.
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I would just like to point our that even if you do find a motherboard that supports the 4 sticks of RAM, the 4 sticks may not work with eachother. It is best to buy all your sticks of RAM at the same time in 1 kit to make sure they work together. If you bought the same exact brand, speed, and timings of RAM, they will probably work, but there is a chance that they won't.
I would definitely recommend getting the 2X8GB and return the 2X4GB if you can. If you bought it locally, a lot of stores (at least in the US) have more relaxed return policies after Christmas. If you can't return it, I would just try to get as much of the money back as you can by selling it locally.
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As long as it is the same speed, brand etc I will be fine. It doesn't have to be an exact model. I checked all of his specs when he was at work so I knew exactly what to get.
I bought it from amazon. Either way I always keep receipts and here in the UK you can turn most things within 14 days.
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That's not true. Even if you find the exact same 2X4GB kit that was originally installed in the computer, there is a possibility that it will not work. Even if you buy 2 kits of 2 sticks at the same time and install all 4 at once, they may not work together. When you buy a kit of 2 or 4 sticks of memory, the manufacturer tests them to make sure they work with eachother before putting them in the kit.
I would think if you bought the same brand, speed, and timings as the original, it will most likely work, but there is always the chance that it doesn't and you may end up with random errors or crashes.
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Oh... Well, I did the exact same with my RAM and I have had no issues with it whatsoever.
I even know people who have different bands that have no issues.
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I have done it on previous computers and had it work (back in the days of PC133), even with random sticks of RAM, but there seems to be a lot of talk online about people having problems, even with the exact same sticks of RAM that were not sold together as kits. Maybe with the higher speeds of modern RAM, things are getting more precise and the tolerance is lower? I don't know, but I have seen a lot of talk online about it, maybe it's just rumors that got blown out of proportion or maybe it's true. I just didn't want you to spend the money on a motherboard and then find out that the RAM doesn't work together after you are past the return period if you can still return it now.
Here's a random page I just looked up where it is talked about: https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?57038-Don%92t-combine-memory-kits!-The-meat-and-potatoes-overview
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Yeah I probably shouldn't test my luck really. I'll read into it. Seems like I'll need to exchange it no matter what despite this fact
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The only motherboard I found so far that isn't from 'sellers' is this one. According to Newegg reviews it has some issues, such as graphics cards blocking some of the SATA ports.
However, given that this costs £61 and the price difference between 2x8GB and 2x4GB is around the same, it's probably a better idea to just return the 2x4GB and get 2x8GB, if you can. This will leave you (or him) with 2x4GB which can be sold or used for another PC.
Oh, and nice seeing you around. I hope you're feeling well.
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Hello, how are you all?
So, for Christmas as part of my boyfriends present I gave him an SSD (which I'll install windows on later) and 8GB of ram on top of his existing 8GB... So I stumbled onto a problem when I was putting it in... There are only 2 slots for RAM and now he has 4 x 4GB... One thing I failed to check was his motherboard when I was looking at what RAM he owns... Silly me...
Anyway, does anybody recommend a motherboard that has 4 slots for RAM? He is insistent on buying a motherboard instead of me just getting 2 8GB... So any suggestions?
Ally's PC (I've tried my best to get all the parts right):
No giveaway because... cause. Stop being greedy ;)
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