2gb ram stick in a 1gb slot

[raykat]

I have an Asus P5AD2-E motherboard with an Intel prescot P4 cpu and a geforse 7950gt graphics card.Stop laushing.I know it's old I'm just trying to keep it going untill I can save enough for my new build.Anyway i currently have 2 1gb sticks of corsair ram for a total of 2gbs.I wanted to upgrade to 4gbs and bought 2 2gb sticks without realizing that I'm only supposed to use 1gb in each slot.Can I use a 2gb stick in a 1gb slot or will this cause huge performance or stability problems?Do you think I would be better off returning the 2 2gb sticks and getting 4 1 gb sticks?Thry are both corsair xms2 6400...with a 5-5-5-18 cas at 1.8v.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ttcboy]

Since your mobo support max of 4GB, u can either go for 4x1GB or 2x2GB configuration.

In theory, even if u put 4x2GB sticks, it should still work but only be able to use 4GB and remember, Win 32bit version can only use max of 3GB anyway.

IMO, it would be better to go for 4x1gb since u only need to buy an extra pair of 1GB if you really insist on upgrading but the performance improvement won't be much.

Just make sure u get DDR2 and not DDR3 sticks.

 

[Tabris DarkPeace]

The slots do not generally have a capacity limitation, unless the chipset itself does (e.g. Intel 440ZX was limited to 256MB from memory).

I'm pretty sure all DDR2 motherboards support DIMMs that are double sided and that this is part of the spec.

It's just that it might not be 'officially' supported by the system manufacturer.

 

[Legohouse]

Well, as mentioned in the above posts the memory should work regardless of the motherboard supporting only 4 x 1GB module. Don't try advanced timed memory like the XMS2, usually it works but not always. Officially, the 2GB memory modules are not compatible acc to the manufacturer. Perhaps with a BIOS update the memory might work but not guaranteed so I think you'd be better off with 4 x 1GB modules. So RMA the 2 2GB module and get 2 1GB modules from the same vendor or maybe a different one like crucial or memorystock (http://www.memorystock.com/memory/ASUSP5AD2E.html) Good luck!!

 

[raykat]

Since your mobo support max of 4GB, u can either go for 4x1GB or 2x2GB configuration.

In theory, even if u put 4x2GB sticks, it should still work but only be able to use 4GB and remember, Win 32bit version can only use max of 3GB anyway.

IMO, it would be better to go for 4x1gb since u only need to buy an extra pair of 1GB if you really insist on upgrading but the performance improvement won't be much.

Just make sure u get DDR2 and not DDR3 sticks.

Hey man just wanted to say thanks for the help.My problem now is...well my real problem is that I need a new computer,I built the one I got now like 10 years ago ,,,yeah ,yeah stop laughing.It was fine till about 6 months ago.Any way...I got 4 sticks of 1gb corsair.It's cheap stuff because like i said it's old .im planning on putting together as haswell based sys soon.I put the 4 1gb sticks in and after my sys goes through post...it stops.does nothing and i sit staring at the asus logo on my screen.i put my original 2 sticks back ...everything works.It's really slow ass ram and I'm thinking i might need to change the cas lat in the bios before i stick the new sticks in.Any clue?it's corsair value ram...not very right now. 1gb sticks ddr2 667 pc2-5300 cas lat is 5-5-5-15 1.8 vt..thought maybe voltage as well...any way thanks for the help man you rock...raykat

 

[ttcboy]

Since your mobo support max of 4GB, u can either go for 4x1GB or 2x2GB configuration.

In theory, even if u put 4x2GB sticks, it should still work but only be able to use 4GB and remember, Win 32bit version can only use max of 3GB anyway.

IMO, it would be better to go for 4x1gb since u only need to buy an extra pair of 1GB if you really insist on upgrading but the performance improvement won't be much.

Just make sure u get DDR2 and not DDR3 sticks.

Hey man just wanted to say thanks for the help.My problem now is...well my real problem is that I need a new computer,I built the one I got now like 10 years ago ,,,yeah ,yeah stop laughing.It was fine till about 6 months ago.Any way...I got 4 sticks of 1gb corsair.It's cheap stuff because like i said it's old .im planning on putting together as haswell based sys soon.I put the 4 1gb sticks in and after my sys goes through post...it stops.does nothing and i sit staring at the asus logo on my screen.i put my original 2 sticks back ...everything works.It's really slow ass ram and I'm thinking i might need to change the cas lat in the bios before i stick the new sticks in.Any clue?it's corsair value ram...not very right now. 1gb sticks ddr2 667 pc2-5300 cas lat is 5-5-5-15 1.8 vt..thought maybe voltage as well...any way thanks for the help man you rock...raykat

As far as i see, the new sticks shouldn't be a problem since they are in typical DDR2 spec. Since mobo support DDR2-711(FSB1066)/DDR2-600(FSB800)/DDR2-533(FSB1066/800) and the one u have is DDR2 667, it would work at 600MHz speed.

In order to test the new RAM, slot them in 2 at a time to old RAM slot and boot up and see whether they work at all or not. If not, try next 2 and follow by swapping the stick from 1st set with 2nd set etc.. If it doesn't work then i'm afraid that the new RAMs might be defective.

If the above method works and confirmed that new sticks are working fine, my advice would be to clean out the memory slots with compressed air or with a low setting on vacuum cleaner since u haven't use these slots for so long, i'm sure there will be dirts on the spare slots and covering the pins.

Make sure to seat the RAMs properly and firmly till u hear the click sound.

Don't change the CAS/LAT before u r confirming that the RAMs are working fine. IMO, Using ASUS AI Booster program that come with the mobo will save time and trouble.

Hope it solves ur problem.