Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
news:nospam-1307050226150001@192.168.1.178...
> In article <42d49336$1@dnews.tpgi.com.au>, "Dragoncarer"
> <notrightnow@oops.haha> wrote:
>
>>
>> Yep....at my parts store they list their dual channel RAM as "1GB
>> (2x5412MB)
>> Brand name yadda yadda" and the price is the same as buying two
>> individual
>> sticks.
>>
>> <Snip>
>>
>> Oh wow, thanks so much! You are a font of knowledge!
>>
>> And now another couple of questions:
>>
>> I have an existing stick of 512MB DDR400, and my current Mobo is an old
>> Gigabyte model. I plan on upgrading soon and will get an ASUS
>> A8N-SLI....will that existing stick of 512 work alongside a pair of 512
>> in
>> dual channel mode? Ie., I'll pop the (new) dual-channel sticks in the
>> right
>> slots to enable dual-channel config, and the remaining (old) stick in a
>> free
>> slot.
>>
>> Second question: if I buy the two sticks of RAM now to use as dual
>> channel
>> in my new Mobo when I get it, can I use those sticks in my current Mobo
>> (obviously they won't run in dual channel)? I'm fairly certain you've
>> answered this question in your previous posts: the dual-channel sticks
>> aren't anything special or different from normal DDR400, they're just a
>> pair
>> from the 'same barrell', as you put it.
>>
>> Once again, many, many thanks.
>>
>> >
>
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26094.PDF
>>
>> Ok, so I'm a (little) bit of a tech head, but this is far too tech for
>> me,
>> but thanks for the thought!
😉
>>
>> >
>> > Paul
>
> The Athlon64 memory controller works with 1, 2, or 4 sticks of RAM.
> One stick in B1 or B2 in single channel (B bus is the primary bus).
> Two sticks in B1 and B2 as single channel.
> Two matched sticks in A1&B1 as dual channel
> Two matched sticks in A2&B2 as dual channel
> Four sticks, using the last two combinations together.
>
> (On Rev.E, I've just read a claim that A1 and A2 can be used in
> single channel, but I'll wait until someone confirms that it
> actually works, as the BIOS might not support it. Up until now,
> Athlon64 wasn't fully symmetric in terms of its usage pattern, so
> A1 and A2 couldn't be used in a 64 bit mode.)
>
> Athlon64 is not true dual channel - it operates in 64 bit mode
> or 128 bit mode (sort of like a "double wide" single channel).
> Once you make the decision to go dual channel, via using A1&B1 or
> A2&B2, a third "lonely stick" cannot reside in a third slot -
> the BIOS should ignore the third stick. Up to this date, the
> Athlon64 does not have the flexibility of an Nforce2 chipset,
> where virtually anything is possible.
>
> If you had mentioned your Gigabyte model number, I might have
> been able to comment on what options might work there. If it
> is a single channel three slot board, some typical configs:
>
> three double sided sticks at DDR266
> two double sided sticks at DDR333 (using slot 1 and slot 3)
> one double sided stick at DDR400 (slot 3, furthest from CPU)
>
> On boards that have more than one address bus, more is possible.
> A S754 board has two address busses, and on those, two double
> sided sticks work at DDR400 command rate 2T, using slots 1 and
> 3. An Nforce2 board, which has three address busses, can run
> three double sided sticks at DDR400 (CAS2 memory recommended
> for best results).
>
> On the Intel chipset side of things, Intel skirted the issue,
> by limiting the drive signals available to support only two double
> sided DIMMs in some of the last single channel boards. Thus, those
> boards were limited to two double sided sticks at DDR333 as well -
> the slots you are allowed to use may differ in that case.
>
> Intel dual channel boards can run four sticks at DDR400, as they
> are really two, two stick channels. Similar to Athlon64, but
> for some reason, without ever exposing the command rate setting
> as an issue (there is no chipset register for command rate, and
> Xbitlabs claims it always runs command rate 2T).
>
> HTH,
> Paul
Yeah it did, kinda....the point is my 'lonely' stick will be useless in the
new motherboard if I have two other sticks running in 'faux dual channel'.
Oh well....looks like my brother will be getting a present.
My existing motherboard is 7S748. I'm not worried about dual channel, just
whether the new RAM would work in it. But I'm fairly sure they will.
Thanks again.
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