2gb ?'s

Mr.Suave · 11-23-2005, 02:46 AM

i decided to go with 2gb RAM but im not sure wether to go with 4x512mb @ CAS2 2-2-2-5 or 2x1024mb @ CAS2 2-3-2-5 both DDR400 (PC 3200).
will the AMD x2 4200 be able to use all 4 of the DIMMs at max speed?? becuase i read in RAM 101 that if 4 are used it will drop the speed from PC3200 to PC2700. Also confused about where is said an Athlon 64 "venice/san deigo" core would be able to use full speed but then says with the exception of Athlon64-based processors

Quote:

With respect to the Athlon64 with on-die memory controlers, those running with "Venice/SanDiego" cores (or newer) will be able to run with all DIMM slots populated at the full speed. With the exception of Athlon64-based processors (i.e., on-die memory controllers), this isnt a concrete rule in that some memory controllers will only drop the speed depending on the type of DDR (and i would imagine DDR2) memory installed (i.e., double sided or single sided).

Generally double-sided (DS) memory is a bit more finicky than single-sided (SS) meaning DS memory will tend to downclock (i.e., 4 sticks of PC3200 will run at PC2700). How do servers, which require craploads of memory ... deal with this? They [generally] use something called Registered Memory which, to simply state, improves signal stability (thus allowing the memory to run at the higher clock)

is the ram i chose SS or DS? how can you tell?

Hairy_Lee · 11-23-2005, 03:03 AM

first thing, im not sure what your processor is capable with regards to how many sticks it can access without dropping the memory speed; however my past experience is that they do drop the speed down when all the slots are populated.

double-sided ram - ram chips on both sides
single-sided ram - ram chips on one side

personally i would go with the two larger modules so that there is room for upgrade should you need it. the single change noted in the timings is not very significant at all and i would say i would only be noticable in memory benchmarks

[-0MEGA-] · 11-23-2005, 03:16 AM

With my motherboard it only drops the speed if you have 4x double sided memory sticks. I would go with the 2x 1GB.

Mr.Suave · 11-23-2005, 04:09 AM

ok thx guys ill go with the 2x1gb and thx hairy for clearing up wat SS and DS ment
and i think, i get the whole thing about the athlon64.

34erd · 11-23-2005, 04:40 AM

Socket 939 is capable of running all DIMMs populated at DDR400, however it will be forced to run 2T comand rate, which is a big performance drop on the K8 architechture. So I would go with 2 x 1 gigabyte for upgradability and the 1T comand rate

Also CAS is the most performance afecting timing so since they are both 2 the performance difference will be small.

11-23-2005, 03:03 AM	#2 (permalink)
Hairy_Lee VIP Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Plymouth, UK Age: 25 Posts: 2,553	first thing, im not sure what your processor is capable with regards to how many sticks it can access without dropping the memory speed; however my past experience is that they do drop the speed down when all the slots are populated. double-sided ram - ram chips on both sides single-sided ram - ram chips on one side personally i would go with the two larger modules so that there is room for upgrade should you need it. the single change noted in the timings is not very significant at all and i would say i would only be noticable in memory benchmarks __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 EVGA nForce 650i Ultra mainboard EVGA 7950 GT KO SC 512Mb w/ Zalman VF-900Cu 2Gb of OCZ GOLD XTC SPECIAL OPS Eition Notebook - Acer Aspire 9300 - Turion TL-60/ 2 Gb RAM/ Geforce Go 7600 128 Dedicated (400 Mb turbocache)

11-23-2005, 03:16 AM	#3 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Concord, NH Age: 20 Posts: 27,082	With my motherboard it only drops the speed if you have 4x double sided memory sticks. I would go with the 2x 1GB. __________________ Desktop // Laptop Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.0GHz // Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz Asus Rampage Formula X48 // Intel PM45 ATI 4870X2 2GB GDDR5 // 512MB GDDR3 9800M GTS 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 940 // 4GB DDR3 800 750GB SATAII w/32MB // 200GB SATAII 7200RPM Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 21391 // 9179

11-23-2005, 04:09 AM	#4 (permalink)
Mr.Suave Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 1,373	ok thx guys ill go with the 2x1gb and thx hairy for clearing up wat SS and DS ment and i think, i get the whole thing about the athlon64. __________________ The Comp: CPU--Athlon64 X2 4200+ Manchester @ 2.5!!!:D HDD--WD Caviar 250GB 7200 RPM SATA MB---DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR RAM--OCZ Titanium 2GB (2 x 1GB) GPU--Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900XTX 512mb SPU--Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS PSU--ENERMAX Whisper II 535W all inside a Thermaltake Matrix VX

11-23-2005, 04:40 AM	#5 (permalink)
34erd Diamond Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Age: 15 Posts: 2,842	Socket 939 is capable of running all DIMMs populated at DDR400, however it will be forced to run 2T comand rate, which is a big performance drop on the K8 architechture. So I would go with 2 x 1 gigabyte for upgradability and the 1T comand rate Also CAS is the most performance afecting timing so since they are both 2 the performance difference will be small. __________________ DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI DR Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1 Gig OCZ VX DDR500 DDR BFG GeForce 7800GT 160 Gig SATA HDD CD-RW DVD-ROM Antec NeoPower 480 Thermaltake Tsunami Last edited by 34erd; 11-23-2005 at 04:43 AM.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode