ASUS Crosshair IV Formula Motherboard

Memory Support

AMD CPUs have an embedded memory controller, meaning that it is the processor, and not the chipset, that defines the memory technologies and the maximum amount of memory you can have. The motherboard, however, may have a limitation as to how much memory can be installed.

At the moment, the integrated memory controller of socket AM3 processors supports only DDR3 memories up to 1,333 MHz under dual-channel architecture, however ASUS says Crosshair IV Formula supports DDR3 memories up to 2,000 MHz through overclocking. This motherboard has four DDR3 sockets and since, at the moment, each DDR3 memory module can have up to 4 GB, you can have up to 16 GB with it.

The first and the third sockets are black, while the second and the fourth are red. In order to achieve the maximum performance, you should install two or four memory modules to enable the dual-channel architecture. When only two modules are used, install them in sockets with the same color in order to enable this feature.

Figure 3: Memory modules. Install two or four modules for the best performance.

Like other high-end motherboards from ASUS, Crosshair IV Formula features the “MemOK” button, that tests the memory modules to see if they are compatible with your system (the results from this test are shown on your video monitor).

Figure 4: MemOK! button.

This button can be used also to load an overclocking profile after the operating system is loaded.