Single channel DDR mode? Please help

L

Lazarus

New Member
Hello people....i've had my pc for almost two years now and i think that all of the time i've been running my DDR ram in single channel mode.Now i have been reading some posts in this section of the forum about the same issue but i have some questions of my own.First of all i want to appologize for any silly statements that i may post but my knowledge about this things is limited so bare with me.I'm going to post all the info i know/understand about my PC and i would really like you to guide me resolve my problem.
Ok,here are some screen shots i took to show you guys:







And a link to my motherboard manufacturer:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=637

Ok so i guess my questions are: Why is my ddr ram running in sigle channel mode?Is it just a matter of a tweak in BIOS?or is this thing going to be a harware adjustment?do i need a new ram?:confused:
I would really appriciate your help.
Thanks,Lazar.

Hope the pics aren't too big.
 
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To have your RAM run in dual channel your motherboard must support it, Yours does, so you're good there!

To have your RAM run in dual channel you'll have to put both sticks of RAM in the same colour slots, either the green or the purple, you must have then in slots next to each other!

That'll work if you just put them in the same coloured slots :D
 
Thanks for the quick reply Kornowski...ok so in order to have dual channel my ram needs to be in slots 1&3 or 2&4? Cause judging from the picture of my motherboard there're two colours green and purple...slots 1&3 and 2&4.?
 
Yup, Try it now if you can, You just need to stick them in the same coloured slots, so yeah, 1&3 or 2&4.

I'd personally go with 1 & 3 but I don't think it really matters :)

Try it and get back to us if it works ;)
 
Kornowski, he has 4x 256 sticks, so all the banks should be filled :P

Some motherboards dont allow dual channel when you have all 4 banks filled with RAM. Try either manually settings it in the BIOS, or just try using two sticks.
 
OMEGA i really think that i have 2X512 Mb of ram,CPU-Z reads that as well and says that slots 3&4 are empty...oh and Kornowski i can not open my PC case cause it's still sealed under waranty...but if thats the case of just a simple swap,i'll take the PC back to the copm. company and have it sorted out.
 
Nope, he has 2 512 sticks :P

Well, There's two things that say differently...

The last picture says he has 4 sticks and the 4th and 5th pictures say he has 2 512 sticks...

Lazarus, How many do you have?
 
Yeah, I wouldn't open it if its under warranty still, just take it to shop you bought it from and ask them if they can simply move the sticks into the same coloured slots :)

Good luck! :D
 
Ok,i really appriciate the help guys i'll try and sort it out.
Another question:if the ram runs in dual mode what sort of performance increase can i expect?A rough estimate?And will the ram be ok in dual mode,i mean i'm not gonna fry it or anything?
Cheers.
 
Hes either running 2 sticks in slot 1 and 2 where it should be 1 and 3 or if its 4 sticks I know some older Athlon 64s memory controller if you ran 4 sticks the only way to run dual channel was to drop it from 400 to 333, in other words it would not run in dual channel with 4 sticks at 400mhz and his is a winchester

Pre Venice Core

It has been some time since AMD released the Athlon 64 line of processors, but the recent Venice core was highly anticipated. Previous versions of the Athlon 64 had problems running four memory sticks at one time. Even if it could run the four memory modules, they would be run at the reduced 333MHz memory bus. The new core now can properly run four memory modules at the proper 400MHz speed, but it still has the limit of 2 commands per clock rather than the 1 for best performance
 
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Lazarus said:
OMEGA i really think that i have 2X512 Mb of ram,CPU-Z reads that as well and says that slots 3&4 are empty...oh and Kornowski i can not open my PC case cause it's still sealed under waranty...but if thats the case of just a simple swap,i'll take the PC back to the copm. company and have it sorted out.
Click to expand...
I noticed that it said you had 4x 256MB sticks. It does happen occasionally where it mis-reads it, so you could be right.
 
Yeah, He can't open it to check because it's still under warranty, so he's taking it to the store he bought it from and getting them to swap the slots...
 
I know on some boards like my 965Wh, it has some type of Intel Quick Resume Technology and you have to have your RAM in Channel 1 to use this. I have no idea what it does as I have never cared to use it. So that might be where the computer place selected that option, instead of Dual Channel.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I have double checked with my warranty list and it also says that i've got 2X512Mb Kingmax drr400 ram.I mean when i bouth the PC i chose the components my self and i'm 100% sure that i chose two 512Mb sticks.So to clear this matter:
-You guys are positive that it's a matter of a single swap?
-a rough estimate of performance increase when running in dual mode?

I use my PC mostly for work:AutoCAD,ArchiCAD..etc. and sometimes for gaming.

Thanks again,i'm really greatful.:)
 
:)

Becasue you have two sticks, it's a simple matter of just moving them into the same coloured slots, it's that easy :)

Erm, I don't really think you'll notice a difference, all Dual Channel does is think of the two sticks of RAM as one, so, Yeah, actually you may notice a difference... maybe things will load a tad faster, you'll probably notice it when gaming :D

Glad to help you :)
 
I did a little reading of my motherboard manual and i have to say i'm a bit confused now....there's something there that refers to single or double sided modules?I don't understand that part.Also there are two tables wich refer to the double channel combinations of the placement of the ram but i don't know wich one to look at.


 
Ok if i understand correctly the small table has the 3 dual channel combinations but it says DIMM slot 1&2 or 3&4 or all 4....i.e. Green&purple??

And whats the big table about? what is s:single side or d:double side?is it talking about some type of RAM?or a mode of the RAM?

Please help me resolve this and i promise i wont be so annoynig in the future :rolleyes:
Thanks.
 
I had SO many problems doing Dual channel.
Kingston told me to RMA my mainboard for a faulty memory controller unit running DIMM 3&4.
But I didn't give up, lol.
Eventually after like a week of whining and moaning.
I asked a good friend of mine that I played a game with (Anarchy Online)

He told me a fix that seemed easy, too easy.
So I did exactly as he said, and wham-o... worked like a charm.

Basically, all you do... Is put 1 module in DIMM 1, and another in DIMM 3.
It should be in the first slot of each colored pair.
Then you power up the system.
If it beeps with a memory error, you'll need to clear your BIOS.
By changing the jumper positioning, and removing the battery then reinstalling 3 mins later or so.
Then power it up, configure your bios (just select optimized defaults), and you're all set and should be running dual channel

For adding additional RAM... you'll need to do it in a pair.
You can't have 3 memory modules when running dual channel. It needs to be either 2, or 4.
That was my mistake, I got it running in dual channel with 2, I figured I'd just test it out and add 1 more, and it gave me a hell of a lot of problems... So I asked him WTF did I do wrong? He just said that you need to run the same memory in the slots. (same memory in slots 1&3, and same in 2&4)
So by me trying to be safe and only installing 1 at a time, actually screwed myself up. So I just put in all of them at once, and it gave me dual channel with 4 sticks.
[I also had to flash my bios to get it to read all 2GB properly]

But uhm yes.
All they have to do is open the case, slide the RAM from slot 2, in to 3.
Power it up, and it should be okay... Unless they have to reset the BIOS.
It's an easy fix really.
If they don't want to do it, just bitch them out and they should eventually do it.
It takes like 5-10 mins tops... Especially for a computer store, they should know exactly what to do and get it done even faster... Unless they just try to pull one over on you, by saying it's some complex process... Which it is not at all.
 
Ok Haas i'm really greatful for your reply and i understand you completly but....if you can bother reading that piece of manual that i posted and a page of this article
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/133/6
you'll understand my frustration.In that article it says that in order to run dual channel mode the RAM memory must be installed in different channels.And in my case the different channels have two different colors.GREEN(ch A) and PURPLE(ch B):confused:
 
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