Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5 Motherboard

Memory Support

AMD CPUs have an embedded memory controller, meaning that it is the processor – and not the chipset – that defines what 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.

Currently, the integrated memory controller of AMD processors support only DDR3 memories up to 1,333 MHz under dual-channel architecture, but Gigabyte says the 990FXA-UD5 supports memory up to 2,000 MHz through overclocking.

The Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5 has four memory sockets and, since DDR3 memory modules can now be found in capacities up to 8 GB, you can have up to 32 GB with this motherboard if you use four 8 GB modules.

Gigabyte made the bad decision of having painting all of the memory sockets black. You have to skip one socket when installing only two memory modules, otherwise your memory will use single-channel mode. If the first and third sockets were painted in one color, and the second and fourth in another, it would be easier to identify which sockets to use.

Figure 3: Memory sockets; install two or four modules for the best performance