ASUS P4P800 with 2x 512 3200 DDR

[Smokin..o0O]

Hi.
I have been running a P4P800 with a P4 2.66/533 CPU and 2x 256 2700 DDR from
Crucial UK for about 4 weeks now with no problems at all in dual channel
mode.
I know I will upgrade the CPU very soon to at least P4 2.8/800.
Is it possible to use 2 sticks of 512 3200 DDR in dual channel mode, or at
all in this board?
Would the board accept these 512 MB sticks or would I have to go with 4 256
3200 sticks?

The memory I was thinking of is CT 6464Z40B :
DDR PC3200 . CL=3 . Unbuffered . Non-parity . 5ns . 2.5V. 64Megx64.
It can be found here :
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.asp?model=P4P800&DetailMB=Y&cat=RA
M

If this memory is suitable, would it be preferable to use instead of the
PC2700 I am using at this time?

Thanks for reading, and any help would be appreciated.

 

[Bob Knowlden]

Asus lists compatible RAM for the board:

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4p800/overview.htm

(scroll to the bottom of the page). It lists no Crucial RAM, but oddly
enough, it gives at least one Micron DIMM. (Crucial is the retail arm of
Micron.) I'd be inclined to trust Crucial, but if you have access to one of
the others on the list at a comparable price, you might go with one of them.
(In particular, it might be wise to stick with memory which has been tested
as suitable to fill all 4 slots.)

That said, I've got two 512 MB PC3200 sticks in my P4P800's blue slots.
They're generic DIMMs, using Samsung chips. I'm using slowish timings
(2.5-3-3-7), and they seem happy at 400 MHz.

There may not be much point in upgrading to PC3200 with a 533 MHz FSB CPU,
unless you plan to overclock it, or experiment with aggressive memory
timings. The P4P800 gives a maximum memory multiplier of 4:5 with a 533 MHz
CPU, which is listed as 333 MHz (PC2700). To run an actual 400 MHz (PC3200),
you'd need to run the FSB up to 160 MHz (CPU at 3.2 GHz). This may be
possible, but I never got my 2.66 CPU to run reliably much above 150 MHz
(3.0 GHz).

(The 2.6c, on the other hand, seems entirely stable at 13X250 MHz, 3.25 GHz.
The memory multiplier is set to 320 MHz, which is really 5:4, so the memory
actually runs at normal DDR400 frequencies.)

HTH.

Bob Knowlden

Spam dodger may be inn use. Replace nkbob with bobkn.