How best to utilise 'Dual Channel' RAM feature of A7N8X Deluxe?

[Paul Speller]

Hi,

I've got 2 x 256MB PC2100 DDR RAM chips in my A7N8X Deluxe motherboard
at the moment, and I've just ordered a 512MB chip to go with them in the
third slot.

However, I saw that this motherboard has a 'Dual Channel' feature with
the RAM (which I think sounds a bit like Intel's HyperThreading thing in
its latest processors), and I wondered which slots people thought I
should put each of my chips into.

I think slots 1 and 2 are one channel, and slot 3 is the other. The
logical thing to do would seem to be to put 256MB in each of 1 and 2,
and 512 into slot 3, but just because that gives each channel the same
total doesn't necessarily mean it's the best thing to do, so I thought
I'd post on here in case anyone had any suggestions.

I realise 'Dual Channel' is probably meaningless marketing drivel which
has next-to-no effect on actual performance of the PC but, well, you
never know for sure until you ask

Thanks for any help anyone can offer!

Paul Speller
UK

 

[Darkfalz]

Hi,

I've got 2 x 256MB PC2100 DDR RAM chips in my A7N8X Deluxe motherboard
at the moment, and I've just ordered a 512MB chip to go with them in the
third slot.

That was dumb. You should have got two more identical 256 mb pieces.

I realise 'Dual Channel' is probably meaningless marketing drivel which
has next-to-no effect on actual performance of the PC but, well, you
never know for sure until you ask

No, it makes a HUGE difference in performance. HUGE.

 

[Doug Ramage]

Hi,

I've got 2 x 256MB PC2100 DDR RAM chips in my A7N8X Deluxe motherboard
at the moment, and I've just ordered a 512MB chip to go with them in the
third slot.

However, I saw that this motherboard has a 'Dual Channel' feature with
the RAM (which I think sounds a bit like Intel's HyperThreading thing in
its latest processors), and I wondered which slots people thought I
should put each of my chips into.

I think slots 1 and 2 are one channel, and slot 3 is the other. The
logical thing to do would seem to be to put 256MB in each of 1 and 2,
and 512 into slot 3, but just because that gives each channel the same
total doesn't necessarily mean it's the best thing to do, so I thought
I'd post on here in case anyone had any suggestions.

I realise 'Dual Channel' is probably meaningless marketing drivel which
has next-to-no effect on actual performance of the PC but, well, you
never know for sure until you ask

Thanks for any help anyone can offer!

Paul Speller
UK

Yes, that what I have done, IIRC. Just check the manual to make sure.

 

[DaveW]

You cannot get dual channel operation with mismatched RAM. And yes it makes
a goodly difference in memory speed. You would need to buy two MATCHED
sticks of dual channel rated DDR RAM.

 

[Kyle Brant]

I would think that the 2 memory sticks should be capable of running at
the same speed, but they need not be "matched". I am using a pc2100
and a pc2700 stick (both running at 166 MHz) in dual channel mode.
Yes, the pc2100 stick is overclocked, but I have no memory or system
errors after thorough testing and adjustment of memory speed settings
that accommodate the slower stick.

--
Best regards,
Kyle
| You cannot get dual channel operation with mismatched RAM. And yes
it makes
| a goodly difference in memory speed. You would need to buy two
MATCHED
| sticks of dual channel rated DDR RAM.
|
| --
| DaveW
|
|
|
| | > Hi,
| >
| > I've got 2 x 256MB PC2100 DDR RAM chips in my A7N8X Deluxe
motherboard
| > at the moment, and I've just ordered a 512MB chip to go with them
in the
| > third slot.
| >
| > However, I saw that this motherboard has a 'Dual Channel' feature
with
| > the RAM (which I think sounds a bit like Intel's HyperThreading
thing in
| > its latest processors), and I wondered which slots people thought
I
| > should put each of my chips into.
| >
| > I think slots 1 and 2 are one channel, and slot 3 is the other.
The
| > logical thing to do would seem to be to put 256MB in each of 1 and
2,
| > and 512 into slot 3, but just because that gives each channel the
same
| > total doesn't necessarily mean it's the best thing to do, so I
thought
| > I'd post on here in case anyone had any suggestions.
| >
| > I realise 'Dual Channel' is probably meaningless marketing drivel
which
| > has next-to-no effect on actual performance of the PC but, well,
you
| > never know for sure until you ask
| >
| > Thanks for any help anyone can offer!
| >
| > Paul Speller
| > UK
|
|

 

[Paul Speller]

That was dumb. You should have got two more identical 256 mb pieces.

Er, how would I fit two more pieces into the one remaining slot?!

Paul

 

[Dunny Rummy]

I can concur on this. I had mismatch memory and it sucked! I had in
slot 1 a PC2100 512MBDDR and a PC2700 512MBDDR in the other. The 2100
is maxed @133MHz and the 2700 does 166MHZ but can match the 2100's
clock speed..........FOOEY! I could never get solid performance so I
took the 2700 back, got TWO IDENTICAL sticks of PC3200 512MBDDR
@200MHz. Now my machine's performance is way much noticeably better!!
----------------------------------
MOBO: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1007
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+Barton Core
CPU Clock Speed: 2074.7 MHz ( OverClocked stable)
Front Side Bus Frequency: 180.4 MHz
Bus Speed: 360.8 MHz
Memory: Wintec Industries DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512MB Dual channel (twin)
Total memory: 1024 MBytes
ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128MB DDR (yeah yeah not the Pro but it rocks with
me!)

 

[Kyle Brant]

Did you manually setup the ram timings in CMOS so that both sdram
sticks' parameters matched? If not, then the mobo may/will attempt to
use spd info to establish sdram timings, as most if not all modern
chipsets are able to establish unique timing parameters for each sdram
slot. I am not certain the nforce chipset can do this, but no reason
to assume it cannot. From there, I would wager a guess that dual
channel mode don't work so well if each sdram slot is setup for
different memory timings. As I mentioned in another post, I have a
pc2100 and pc2700 combination that is rock solid stable at 166 MHz
fsb. Both sticks are Crucial brand.

--
Best regards,
Kyle
| I can concur on this. I had mismatch memory and it sucked! I had in
| slot 1 a PC2100 512MBDDR and a PC2700 512MBDDR in the other. The
2100
| is maxed @133MHz and the 2700 does 166MHZ but can match the 2100's
| clock speed..........FOOEY! I could never get solid performance so I
| took the 2700 back, got TWO IDENTICAL sticks of PC3200 512MBDDR
| @200MHz. Now my machine's performance is way much noticeably
better!!
| ----------------------------------
| MOBO: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1007
| CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+Barton Core
| CPU Clock Speed: 2074.7 MHz ( OverClocked stable)
| Front Side Bus Frequency: 180.4 MHz
| Bus Speed: 360.8 MHz
| Memory: Wintec Industries DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512MB Dual channel
(twin)
| Total memory: 1024 MBytes
| ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128MB DDR (yeah yeah not the Pro but it rocks
with
| me!)
| -----------------------------------
|
|
|
| >You cannot get dual channel operation with mismatched RAM. And yes
it makes
| >a goodly difference in memory speed. You would need to buy two
MATCHED
| >sticks of dual channel rated DDR RAM.
|

 

[Darkfalz]

Er, how would I fit two more pieces into the one remaining slot?!

I have four slots. Seems very odd that a dual channel system would have
three.

Your best option now is to purchase another identical 512 and sell those 256
on ebay.

 

[Doug Ramage]

I have four slots. Seems very odd that a dual channel system would have
three.

Your best option now is to purchase another identical 512 and sell those 256
on ebay.

Are you sure your mobo is an Asus A7N8X de luxe? Mine has only 3 slots - 1&2
slots = 1 channel and slot3 = 2nd channel.

 

[Darkfalz]

Are you sure your mobo is an Asus A7N8X de luxe? Mine has only 3 slots - 1&2
slots = 1 channel and slot3 = 2nd channel.

No, my mobo is a P4P800 Deluxe.