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Help figuring out ram for P4P800 Deluxe

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Mpegger

Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2001
Ok. As much as I can't afford to now, I really need to upgrade my system. I'm so close to putting my foot through my current setup because of all the headaches its causing. :mad:

Anyway, I'm looking to purchase the Asus P4P800 Deluxe board and a Intel 2.4C w/HT and 800MHz FSB. But I'm unsure what kind/type/rating of memory to use with this board. There are so many types of configurations and setups that I'm totally confused. What I'm looking to get right now is 512mb of ram, and not use all the available slots, because in the future I plan to add on another 512mb, maybe even 1gb. Anyone care to give any recommendations?
 
The board and CPU are excellent choices. As far as memory goes, it is hard to say. Kind of depends on your cpu. If your cpu can only run stable up to 250 fsb, then some PC4000 running at a 1:1 ratio would do nicely. If your cpu can run like 275 or higher, then you probably aren't going to find any ram that can do 1:1. You would need to set the 5:4 divider and you would only need like some quality PC3500. I run 275 fsb on a daily basis and use Mushkin Lvl 2 Black PC3200 with a 5:4 divider.

250 fsb 1:1 ratio will give you about 6400 in Sandra memory bandwidth.

275 fsb 5:4 ratio will give you about 6000 in Sandra memory bandwidth.

But, at 250 you are running 3.0 ghz and 275 you are running 3.3 ghz. I think running the higher fsb yields better results overall.

The best thing to do would be to test out your cpu and see what kind of overclock you can get out of it. See if you can borrow 1 stick of ram from someone and set a 3:2 divider. Then overclock that cpu till it fails.

You could also throw down some bucks and get some PC4200 Adata. You might be able to run that 1:1 up to 275 fsb or so. Check out the thread in the memory section for more details.
 
Mpegger said:
Ok. As much as I can't afford to now, I really need to upgrade my system. I'm so close to putting my foot through my current setup because of all the headaches its causing. :mad:

Anyway, I'm looking to purchase the Asus P4P800 Deluxe board and a Intel 2.4C w/HT and 800MHz FSB. But I'm unsure what kind/type/rating of memory to use with this board. There are so many types of configurations and setups that I'm totally confused. What I'm looking to get right now is 512mb of ram, and not use all the available slots, because in the future I plan to add on another 512mb, maybe even 1gb. Anyone care to give any recommendations?

Here:

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4p800-d/P4P800_DDR400_QVL.pdf


Hope that helps.
 
Not really. I already saw that, which made me even more confused then I was. :p

What I dont really understand is the 2 pairs of slots (one blue, one black) and the dual-channel capabilities. I hear that some types of ram you can use in just one slot, but you lose the associated slot. Other ram you have to use in pairs. And then others that can work either way. I haven't a clue as to what I would need to look for. My knowledge of ram ends around the P3 days when a 168pin DIMM can be used alone. :eek:

And I do plan on oc'ing the 2.4C. I'm shooting/hopeing for 3GHz, but if I can get more then I'd be very happy. However, I have seen prices on ram and I've seen some PC3200 512mb sticks from Crucial for almost $100. I'm guessing thats a single stick of ram, but how does it work on the board? Does that one stick disallow the use of its related pair? I'm guessing that that is how dual channel mem works on that board. If you get a dual channel memory module, you dont need to run the sticks in pair. If you dont use dual channel memory, then you have to run the mem in pairs. Correct? Incorrect? I'm totally confused, cause according to the PDF, theres ram that can run alone, in pairs, or in all four slots. Wtf?? :confused:
 
Mpegger said:
Not really. I already saw that, which made me even more confused then I was. :p

What I dont really understand is the 2 pairs of slots (one blue, one black) and the dual-channel capabilities. I hear that some types of ram you can use in just one slot, but you lose the associated slot. Other ram you have to use in pairs. And then others that can work either way. I haven't a clue as to what I would need to look for. My knowledge of ram ends around the P3 days when a 168pin DIMM can be used alone. :eek:

And I do plan on oc'ing the 2.4C. I'm shooting/hopeing for 3GHz, but if I can get more then I'd be very happy. However, I have seen prices on ram and I've seen some PC3200 512mb sticks from Crucial for almost $100. I'm guessing thats a single stick of ram, but how does it work on the board? Does that one stick disallow the use of its related pair? I'm guessing that that is how dual channel mem works on that board. If you get a dual channel memory module, you dont need to run the sticks in pair. If you dont use dual channel memory, then you have to run the mem in pairs. Correct? Incorrect? I'm totally confused, cause according to the PDF, theres ram that can run alone, in pairs, or in all four slots. Wtf?? :confused:

the ram you use in one pair of slots need to be (pretty much) identical. So 2 identical ram sticks in the blue and 2 in the black slot. Of course you don't need to fill up both black and blue, but that's I did it and I have linear dual channel memory now.
It is not possibe to enable dual channel with one stick, this should be clear.
 
Ahhh... I think I get it.

So what your saying is in order to have the dual channel capability, I must use 2 sticks of ram, in either the blue, or black pairs. So 1 stick of 512mb will equal 512mb, but I will not have the dual channel. In order to get the benefits of dual channel, I must use 2 identical sticks of 256mb of ram to equal 512mb. There is no dual channel mem, its just whether you I use the ram in pairs or not that enables dual channel. Is that correct?

And what benefits/downfalls do I get with dual channel?

I'll need to see if I can find a faq that explains this abit more. Would make things easier. I pretty much have everything picked out for the new system except the ram.
 
Mpegger said:
Ahhh... I think I get it.

So what your saying is in order to have the dual channel capability, I must use 2 sticks of ram, in either the blue, or black pairs. So 1 stick of 512mb will equal 512mb, but I will not have the dual channel. In order to get the benefits of dual channel, I must use 2 identical sticks of 256mb of ram to equal 512mb. There is no dual channel mem, its just whether you I use the ram in pairs or not that enables dual channel. Is that correct?

And what benefits/downfalls do I get with dual channel?

I'll need to see if I can find a faq that explains this abit more. Would make things easier. I pretty much have everything picked out for the new system except the ram.

You got it!

Well, it's supposed to be faster then just the regular single channel memory method.

I have 2 sticks of 512 and 2 sticks of 256 and it works fine.
 
When you change the divider from say 1:1 to 5:4, does that hurt the performance of your Ram?
I can get at very very decent OC with it at 5:4, but when it boots, it says that my Hyper-X PC3500 is only running at 266MHz. I guess you make up for that loss by adjusting the FSB??
 
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