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"2gb RAM Questions"

I currently have 1gb of RAM in my system, which is enough. However, I had a bit of spare dosh and splashed out on another stick of 1gb RAM which I saw running cheaper then usual.

I was just wondering if I will encounter any problems running my system with this amount of RAM?

I recently done a system check using Sandra lite and apparently I don't have enough room for more RAM. However, ASUS website states the motherboard has enough for 4gb. I've took a look inside, there are two more slots which are different colours. I'm using a ASUS A8V-Deluxe motherboard, if that is any help.

Is it just as simple as Plug in and go? Or erm, is it healthy?

But surely you can...

I mean, if you have some DDR 300 / PC2700 ram and some DDR400 / PC3200 ram, the computer runs it at the PC2700 settings... So there must be some option, probably in BIOS. Right?

AFAIK you can't - it's a property of the RAM itself. However, I couldn't tell you for certain that that is true. I don't know why I posted really - sorry! Lol.

Just wondering - how do you adjust RAM timings?

I tried it.

It didn't work.

What to do?

Ok, I think I've got this sorted now.

So I looked at my motherboards manual and put the new 1gb RAM into the port recommended in the manual if running only one stick. It worked perfectly, so I now know the RAM is not dodgy. Still could be though :-)

I've looked into it and now I think I know how to sort this one out.

On my motherboard dual channel is supported in two slots, the other two are single channels. However, going by the manual, I can't use my two older RAM in the dual channel and have one in the single channel. Basically, I can't use three sticks of RAM. To be more then the 2 dual channel ones I will have to use all four slots. And according to the manual only the two dual channels are required to be indentical.

So, tommorow, I'm going to shove in some 128mb PC3200 RAM into that vacant spot and pray that it will work.

So:

Dual slot one - 512mb (came with PC, good brand)
Single slot one - 128mb (Hynix/Samsung/Infineon one of them it is)
Dual slot two - 512mb (came with pc, good brand)
Single slot two - 1gb (Vdata)

All at PC3200 DDR 400.

So before I try it, whats the chances of this working> Have I finally got my head around it?

Notorious Biggles wrote:
> On my
> NF7-S for instance, as long as the channel sizes are the same, I can
> run it. For instance, 2 * 256 MB in one channel, and 1 * 512 MB in
> the other.

:' }

This is just what I wanted to hear.

I tend to think the RAM is the problem if it won't work on its own.

Dual channel incidentally will work with non-identical sticks. On my NF7-S for instance, as long as the channel sizes are the same, I can run it. For instance, 2 * 256 MB in one channel, and 1 * 512 MB in the other.

Monkey_With_Attitude wrote:
> tigamilla wrote:
> Will it let you into the BIOS, with the new stick (only) installed?
>
> If so I would suggest lowering the FSB... if that doesn't work then
> I
> would have to say you have faulty RAM.
>
> Is it PC2700 or PC2100??
>
> Also if your motherboard has it, disable dual channel mode.
>
> If I lower the FSB will that affect anything? The same goes for Dual
> channel?
>
> If I disable dual channel the RAM, if it works, won't run at its full
> capacity, right?

If you're sure that all the sticks are PC3200, then thats one problem sorted. Dual channel mode will only work with 2 identical sticks - some motherboards may even support 4 identical sticks. Certainly it wont work with 2x512MB and 1 GB sticks. Try disabling that. Some motherboards cannot support more than 1GB at PC3200 speeds (200Mhz) so it may default the fsb to 166Mhz (PC2700) speed. Otherwise it could just be a bad stick, it was quite cheap!! A bad stick will look perfectly fine, but will have things wrong with the internal circutry.

tigamilla wrote:
> Will it let you into the BIOS, with the new stick (only) installed?
>
> If so I would suggest lowering the FSB... if that doesn't work then I
> would have to say you have faulty RAM.
>
> Is it PC2700 or PC2100??
>
> Also if your motherboard has it, disable dual channel mode.

If I lower the FSB will that affect anything? The same goes for Dual channel?

If I disable dual channel the RAM, if it works, won't run at its full capacity, right?

All my sticks are PC3200 DDR RAM.

I get a no signal even with the one new stick in.

What steps should I take here? And how does RAM become 'bad'? It looks perfectly fine to me.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr