Author Topic: memory (Read 658 times)

hubsonfire · « **Reply #15 on:** May 09, 2007, 12:28:12 PM »

Hmmm. I had the sticks in 1 and 2. Single channel according to bios. Tried 1 and 3, and 2 and 3, same thing. CPUZ reports the mem as running in Dual with them in 2 and 3, however.

Krusty, where'd you find that? I've just been suckered into doing some work, so I may have to tinker with this later this evening.

edit Put them back in 1 and 3, bios still reports as single channel, 1 gig, CPUZ says dual.

Is there any sort of setting for single or dual channel operation, or does the box just sort that out of its own accord?

This calls for beer.

Krusty · « **Reply #16 on:** May 09, 2007, 12:46:01 PM »

Hubs: I just found a top-down image of the mobo and took an educated guess.

If CPU-Z says dual channel, it might be.

Does the POST screen say specifically "running in virtual single channel mode" or "single channel DDR" or anything explicit? Or does it omit this detail entirely?

Try going inside the BIOS and see if there is an option "dual/single/auto." Depends on your BIOS but you can never be sure what settings you might have.

fuzeman · « **Reply #17 on:** May 09, 2007, 01:25:43 PM »

I have an ASUS A7N8X and in bois you may need to adjust a setting for 'performance memory timing' or something like that.
I'm nost exactly sure what it is because I'm in the boat you just left with a single 512Mb stick.

EDIT- I found this on a newegg site for PC3200, not sure if it applies to PC2700.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146532

Pros: Assuming you receive CT6464Z40B.16T (double-sided) model, I would say it is good for non-overclockers who want their system as stable as possible. I ran a stick of this for over 3years and it has worked flawlessly for office work to heavy 3D gaming.
Cons: !6T model is not prodcued by Crucial Tech any longer. !6T also is said to cause troubles with older 754 board because some 754s prefer single-sided DDR when multiple DDR sticks being put together. Go for 8T if you own older 754.
Other Thoughts: PLEASE BE AWARE THAT 8T AND 16T do not work tegether for dual-channel. 8T also has a higher voltage (2.6v) than 16T (2.5v) so they are not a good combo for whatever you want to do with them. Do not call Newegg bcause they do not know of this subtle but important difference nor want to inform you (I do not know why, you guess).

Edit2- I just used Crucials online help gizmo and it seems they wont guarentee dual channel operation unless you order a pair of sticks. By that I assume the sticks almost have to be an exact match.

Ghastly · « **Reply #18 on:** May 09, 2007, 03:19:38 PM »

It's an Asus A7N8X-X rev 2 mobo...

What version of the bios? From what I've read, you need BIOS 1004 or higher for dual channel support.

And the memory has to be in slot 3, and either 1 or 2.
http://www.digital-daily.com/motherboard/asus-a7n8x/index02.htm

hubsonfire · « **Reply #19 on:** May 09, 2007, 07:24:03 PM »

1.009 is the BIOS. POST lists bytes, then freq, then Single Channel Mode.
No options I've seen in BIOS for which channel mode, just the choice of optimal, aggressive, and user defined settings for the RAM.

Not killing me to be in single channel mode (the improvement in simply doubling memory was obvious immediately in AH), but I was curious about the memory setup.

Krusty · « **Reply #20 on:** May 09, 2007, 07:35:06 PM »

Well, if the BIOS isn't behaving, so be it. I say just use them in single channel. I once had single channel 1.5 GB and it was better than 1 GB. Dual channel is just icing on the cake.

38ruk · « **Reply #21 on:** May 10, 2007, 01:32:21 AM »

The A7N8X-X is NOT capable of running memory in dual channel . I used the same board in my grandparents machine a few years ago , it was one of the features they cut out to keep the cost of the Motherboard down . Single channel in the athlon xp's wasn't a very big increase anyways IIRC , but some intel chips really benifited from DC .

Kermit de frog · « **Reply #22 on:** May 10, 2007, 02:12:33 AM »

Hub, PC2700 will not run at 400MHz, it will run at 333MHz or slower.

PC3200 is 400MHz while PC2700 is 333MHz.

DDR stands for double data rate.

Example: PC3200 AKA DDR400
What that means is it transfers 3.2g/s at an effective speed of 400MHz. Since it's a double data rate memory module, both sides of the memory operate at the same time at a frequency of 200MHz.

PC2700 aka DDR333 would be 2.7g/s transfer rate and a true speed of ~166MHz for each side combining to give you an effective speed of 333MHz.

Keep in mind your FSB speed and your memory speed ratio. Sometimes, going to dual channel will not actually double your transfer speeds for real-life applications. It's best to achieve a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio.

BTW, I overclocked my FSB to 1600MHz and run DDR2-800 in dual channel mode and can really see a difference when running multimedia applications.

For more information, click me!

hubsonfire · « **Reply #23 on:** May 10, 2007, 09:14:32 AM »

I know the memory won't run at the higher speed, but the ddr/dual channel thing isn't something I've had much experience with. I'm a bit surprised to learn that it won't actually do the dual channel operation, but it's not the end of the world. There's a couple of features the documentation claims the board possesses, and reviews show the board having, but that either aren't on my board, or don't work. SATA and firewire, Q-fan, and a few other addon headers that were never available come to mind immediately.

Not a big deal, PC's been serving me well for 4 years or so, total upgrade costs so far are still next to nothing. Always good to learn a little more, and I would likely have wasted some cash on matched sticks otherwise, so I can file this one under "cheap learning experiences".

Thanks for the input.