Memory advice for Asus A8V

[Mark (newsgroups)]

Hi,

My brief system specs:
Asus A8V Deluxe (Socket 939)
AMD Athlon 64 3500
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200XL Platinum TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2

And I previously had:
Leadtek WinFast A400TDH GeForce 6800 GT 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP)

Which died a few days ago and as of tonight will be replaced by a:
Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB (AGP)

I considered upgrading my system completely instead of just the GPU
but thought it would be a waste of some decent hardware that I think I
can squeeze at least a years more use out of (especially with the new
GPU).

So, considering that I've just spent £150 on a new GPU, I expect to
use this system for at least a year more and I'm thinking of upping my
memory too. I mostly just use the PC for WoW these days, but also
enjoy HL2, CS:S and dabbled with Oblivion (which didn't run at top
settings very well on my old GPU). I'll probably try some newer games
as they come out too (eg. Hellgate etc). WoW ran just fine for my
tastes with the 6800GT but I did experience some slowdown with HD
thrashing when entering major cities. A friend said that when he
upgraded to 2GB RAM it helped a lot with that.

I'd like to get a matching 2 x 1GB set for a total of 3GB (including
the original memory). I'm considering the following two memory
bundles:

Corsair XMS3200 2GB 2x1GB DDR400 CAS2 @ £150 - (CL2.5 on AMD boards)
http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/product_i...d=733&osCsid=8260591c52d38bdcfc4d8185e8ce4e27

or I could go about £40 cheaper with:
Corsair Value Select 2GB DDR400 (2x1GB) @ 107 - (CL3)
http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/product_i...d=731&osCsid=8260591c52d38bdcfc4d8185e8ce4e27

Is the extra £40 for the top memory worth it or will the bottom set be
fine? I assume I'll already have the original 512MB x 2 set slow down
to slower latency of either of these two? Do I have to worry about the
different latencies or will the BIOS adjust for that automatically?

Or is there perhaps another memory option someone could suggest.

Thanks

 

[Mark (newsgroups)]

Hi,

My brief system specs:
Asus A8V Deluxe (Socket 939)
AMD Athlon 64 3500
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200XL Platinum TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2

And I previously had:
Leadtek WinFast A400TDH GeForce 6800 GT 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP)

Which died a few days ago and as of tonight will be replaced by a:
Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB (AGP)

I considered upgrading my system completely instead of just the GPU
but thought it would be a waste of some decent hardware that I think I
can squeeze at least a years more use out of (especially with the new
GPU).

So, considering that I've just spent £150 on a new GPU, I expect to
use this system for at least a year more and I'm thinking of upping my
memory too. I mostly just use the PC for WoW these days, but also
enjoy HL2, CS:S and dabbled with Oblivion (which didn't run at top
settings very well on my old GPU). I'll probably try some newer games
as they come out too (eg. Hellgate etc). WoW ran just fine for my
tastes with the 6800GT but I did experience some slowdown with HD
thrashing when entering major cities. A friend said that when he
upgraded to 2GB RAM it helped a lot with that.

I'd like to get a matching 2 x 1GB set for a total of 3GB (including
the original memory). I'm considering the following two memory
bundles:

Corsair XMS3200 2GB 2x1GB DDR400 CAS2 @ £150 - (CL2.5 on AMD boards)http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=18_41&products_id=73...

or I could go about £40 cheaper with:
Corsair Value Select 2GB DDR400 (2x1GB) @ 107 - (CL3)http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=18_41&products_id=73...

Is the extra £40 for the top memory worth it or will the bottom set be
fine? I assume I'll already have the original 512MB x 2 set slow down
to slower latency of either of these two? Do I have to worry about the
different latencies or will the BIOS adjust for that automatically?

Or is there perhaps another memory option someone could suggest.

Damn, I was hoping for some advice, but it turns out my only choice
was the more expensive memory option, cheaper was sold out.

But now I have another problem. I expected I'd have 3GB in total when
I installed the new memory but for some reason only 2GB seems to be
detected. I've tried swapping the memory round but no luck. Can anyone
suggest anything?

 

[Paul]

Damn, I was hoping for some advice, but it turns out my only choice
was the more expensive memory option, cheaper was sold out.

But now I have another problem. I expected I'd have 3GB in total when
I installed the new memory but for some reason only 2GB seems to be
detected. I've tried swapping the memory round but no luck. Can anyone
suggest anything?

Have you tried just two sticks, but positioned in one dual channel
pair of slots or the other ? To test that both pairs of slots
work properly, before you try all four.

The revision of your processor, decides whether virtual single
channel mode will work or not. With a Revision E processor or later,
you could install three sticks, and have it run in virtual single
channel mode. This would be purely for testing, and not a final
configuration. If your processor is previous to Revision E,
three sticks won't work.

So those are a couple tests to play with.

The best config for you, would in fact be 2x1GB and put those
other two sticks away for a rainy day (the day you have trouble
with the 2x1GB sticks, you could use a backup). Using two sticks
will allow you to stay at DDR400 Command Rate 1T. Four sticks
usually requires a bit slower settings. Unless you really think
you will need the whole 3GB most of the time, the 2x1GB would
be your best config, especially for gaming.

Here is a thread discussing your 4 stick config. The third poster
suggests a specific insertion order (small sticks in A1/B1):

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx..._id=1&model=A8V+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

HTH,
Paul

 

[Mark (newsgroups)]

Have you tried just two sticks, but positioned in one dual channel
pair of slots or the other ? To test that both pairs of slots
work properly, before you try all four.

The revision of your processor, decides whether virtual single
channel mode will work or not. With a Revision E processor or later,
you could install three sticks, and have it run in virtual single
channel mode. This would be purely for testing, and not a final
configuration. If your processor is previous to Revision E,
three sticks won't work.

So those are a couple tests to play with.

The best config for you, would in fact be 2x1GB and put those
other two sticks away for a rainy day (the day you have trouble
with the 2x1GB sticks, you could use a backup). Using two sticks
will allow you to stay at DDR400 Command Rate 1T. Four sticks
usually requires a bit slower settings. Unless you really think
you will need the whole 3GB most of the time, the 2x1GB would
be your best config, especially for gaming.

Here is a thread discussing your 4 stick config. The third poster
suggests a specific insertion order (small sticks in A1/B1):

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20070101160359289&board_id=1&m....

HTH,
Paul

Many thanks for that Paul. I'll try your suggestions tonight when home
from work. But perhaps it's just better to stick with the 2 x 1GB
sticks and either store the 2 x 512MBs or try to sell them (not sure
they're even sellable anymore).