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1.5 gig?

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Brinnswift

Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2005
Location
St. Louis
Well I have 2x 512 corsair ddr400 (2,2,2,11) running at 207 currently running in dual channel on a asus a7n8x-e deluxe. And after playing games like doom3 and battlefield 2 mem optimizer always is showing a really low amount of ram while running these games. Now I have an extra slot and should I get another 512 stick of ram? Is this a big no no for ram? Will it affect my overclock or performance at all? Thanks in advance.
 
if oyu get a 512 stick it will disable the dual channel since there need to be 2 or 4 sticks at any oen time for dual channel to work. you acn instead get 2x256 mb
 
this may help you:
Dual Channel requires at least two modules for operation. It is recommended that the modules you use be of the same size, speed, arrangement etc. Dual Channel is optional on the original nforce2 motherboards and nforce2 ultra400. You can choose to run in single channel mode on these motherboards. (Nforce2 400 boards are singe-channel only).

Most dual channel capable nforce2 motherboards come with three slots. On these motherboards the first memory controller controls only the first slot (or the slot by itself), while the second memory controller controls the last two slots (which are usually closer together). Name them slots 1, 2 & 3 respectively. To implement Dual Channel, it is necessary to occupy the slot 1 (channel 0) and either one of the two slots that are closer together, slots 2 or 3 (channel 1) The entire config would be running in 128bit mode.

You can use three modules in Dual Channel Mode, by filling the third unoccupied slot. With three sticks, slots 1 remains as channel 0 while slot 2&3 become channel 1. To maintain 128-bit mode, with all three slots filled, each channel must have an equal amount of memory. For example, slots 1 should be filled with a 512Mb module, while slots 2 & 3 are populated 256Mb modules. If you were to use three modules of the same size, then only first two modules would be running in 128bit Dual Channel Mode. Example, using 3x 256Mb modules will have the first 512Mb running in 128bit Dual Channel mode, while the remaining 256Mb will be in 64-bit Single Channel mode.

Intel dual-channel systems are different. The have either two or four slots, and to run dual channel mode must have either one or two pairs of (hopefully) matching modules. Running three modules on a P4 system will force it to run in single channel mode, and is therefore to be avoided.

Consult your motherboard manual for instruction on exactly which slots exactly to use.
 
Last edited:
ati said:
if oyu get a 512 stick it will disable the dual channel since there need to be 2 or 4 sticks at any oen time for dual channel to work. you acn instead get 2x256 mb

socket a only has 3 DIMM slots.
 
I have an A7N8X NF2 board with 2x256 and 1x512 running dual channel. If you add a 1gig stick to your 2x512 you can maintain DC, but I suspect this will be a strain for the northbridge memory controller. This would likely effect your ability to overclock.
 
XReaLm said:
...(Nforce2 400 boards are singe-channel only).
...

Oh? 8rda3i uses three slots, Ultra 400 chipset and uses DC memory architecture. Your mobo seems to do the same doesnt it?

I was using DC with 2 X DDR400 512 MB sticks in and managed to climb up to 227 FSB. I decided to install the third, extra 512 MB stick I had but had to drop the FSB down to 200. Strange thing is, wherever I look (POST, CPUZ, Aida, Sandra...) it says Im running DC. Now, can anyone please explain? Is there a way to turn this off? Would making it run in SC loosen the burden on my mobo?


Thnx 'n' cheers!
 
gofra said:
Oh? 8rda3i uses three slots, Ultra 400 chipset and uses DC memory architecture. Your mobo seems to do the same doesnt it?

I was using DC with 2 X DDR400 512 MB sticks in and managed to climb up to 227 FSB. I decided to install the third, extra 512 MB stick I had but had to drop the FSB down to 200. Strange thing is, wherever I look (POST, CPUZ, Aida, Sandra...) it says Im running DC. Now, can anyone please explain? Is there a way to turn this off? Would making it run in SC loosen the burden on my mobo?


Thnx 'n' cheers!
After the NF 2's were out for about 6 months the nf2 ultras were released. This was just a revision that allowed them to run at 200MHz fsb as per what was the speed of the then new XP3200. Shortly after that they released a cheaper non dual channel version of the nf2. I assume that this is the one being referred to by XReaLm.
Now, as for making 3 sticks of ram run in single channel, I'm afraid it can't be done. There is no control for DC and SC operation other than where you place the ram. With 3 sticks there is no choice but to put them in the three slots. If they are all the same ran=m then two of them will run in DC and the third will run SC. The reason you can't OC is your memory controller is just maxed out. The bottom line, I believe, is which do you want, a bigger OC and 1gig of ram or less and 1.5gigs? Sorry, but sometimes it comes down to hard choices. Good luck.
 
rseven said:
The reason you can't OC is your memory controller is just maxed out. The bottom line, I believe, is which do you want, a bigger OC and 1gig of ram or less and 1.5gigs? Sorry, but sometimes it comes down to hard choices. Good luck.


Hehe, exactly so...
I've been running the combo of two sticks with boards FSB @ 227 for some time now but kinda decided to insert the third one cuz I work with Photoshop alot (and this little ******* just can't stop when it comes to RAM). Files aren't that big (yet) but I'll keep it for awhile. But it's just now that it started bugging me because I decided to give my boards beta BIOS a go and if it turns out to work wonders (a.k.a. = higher FSB) than I'll have some serious thinking to do.
 
Yes, photoshop version 8.0 and in particular 9.0 are majur ram eaters. I run 7.9 which in comparison has a light appetite. Good luck with the new bios.
 
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