System Memory

[Norm]

I currently have a socket A MB...thinking about moving up to 2 GB DDR memory
(two 1GB sticks with at least DDR 400/3200). In a year or so I will be
upgrading to Socket 939 MB. What memory should I purchase that can be
carried over to the new MB and be use in my current MB.

thanks in advance for your suggestions
nc

 

[Paul]

I currently have a socket A MB...thinking about moving up to 2 GB DDR memory
(two 1GB sticks with at least DDR 400/3200). In a year or so I will be
upgrading to Socket 939 MB. What memory should I purchase that can be
carried over to the new MB and be use in my current MB.

thanks in advance for your suggestions
nc

I'm assuming your Socket A board is Nforce2.

The first thing you need to do, is find some postings of experiences
with 1GB DIMMs on Nforce2. For example, this 1GB DIMM database thread
has exactly one test, and the guy got some cheap CAS3 PC3200 to work.
Personally, I'd go for some CAS2, just to reduce the risk that
the stuff won't work with Nforce2 (I had trouble getting DDR400 to
work, and ended up using some 512MB CAS2 memory to fix it on my
Nforce2 board). Finding 1GB modules with a true CAS2 rating will
be tough - some modules are CAS2 on Intel and CAS2.5 on AMD,
for example.

http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=991423#post991423
http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=67762&page=1&pp=25

I don't think you are going to find too many experiences with
1GB DIMMs on Nforce2. This may be a hard research to do. The
search engine on nforcershq.com sucks now, and is useless for the
job. (At least the above post proves that it can work.)

As for the future, the future is now. Buying 1GB modules for S939
is the thing to do this instant. This is how things will look in
a year - it'll be time for DDR2:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2476

I'd say it is a hard choice to make. If you are playing BF2,
turn down the quality setting, and maybe you can live with
what you've got ?

If you have 2x512MB now, maybe you could put 1x1GB on one
channel, and the 2x512MB on the other channel, for a 2GB
fully dual channel config. In this case, I'm assuming no
reuse of the DDR memory (maybe sell your complete system
to somebody, and upgrade with all new stuff). Try a stick
of this for $130 - 2-3-2-5 timing, 64Mx8 chips:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220045

Try to buy RAM sticks that use 64Mx8 parts. The super-cheap
DIMMs use 128Mx4, and I would avoid them. Who knows, maybe
on Nforce2, a DIMM with 128Mx4 chips might only be half
detected ?

Paul

 

[Paul]

Try to buy RAM sticks that use 64Mx8 parts. The super-cheap
DIMMs use 128Mx4, and I would avoid them. Who knows, maybe
on Nforce2, a DIMM with 128Mx4 chips might only be half
detected ?

Paul

I found confirmation on an MSI web page - avoid the x4 memory:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=436&MODEL=MS-6570

"NOTE: nForce2 does not support x4 memory for 1GB but it
could support other density of dram chip such as
x 8, x16... "

Paul

 

[DaveW]

In a year DDR2 memory will be the standard. Your current motherboard cannot
use DDR2 RAM.

 

[Norm]

In a year DDR2 memory will be the standard. Your current motherboard
cannot use DDR2 RAM.

Thanks for your response.....I appreciate the information.

I think, I'll sit tight for awhile and see if the industry changes to DDR2
that quickly.

What MB's are currently offering DDR2 as system memory?

 

[Paul D. Motzenbecker, Jr.]

Norm,
Greetings and hallucinations from just north of Fantasy Land (Washington,
DC)!
What O/S are you using? If you are limping along with Windows 9x (98, 98SE
or ME), you need to understand that it does not take well to huge amounts
( more than 1.5 GB is impossible, over 512 MB takes tweeking) of memory.
Second, DDR2 is coming. Unless you were going to purchase a board in the nex
few months, hold off until then.
Peace,
Paul

 

[Norm]

Norm,
Greetings and hallucinations from just north of Fantasy Land (Washington,
DC)!
What O/S are you using? If you are limping along with Windows 9x (98, 98SE
or ME), you need to understand that it does not take well to huge amounts
( more than 1.5 GB is impossible, over 512 MB takes tweeking) of memory.
Second, DDR2 is coming. Unless you were going to purchase a board in the nex
few months, hold off until then.
Peace,
Paul

Hi Guys!!

I just couldn't resist, the money was burning a hole in my pocket.... I purchased some "Patriot 2GB PC3200 DDR Dual Channel Memory".

The S939 MB and DDR2 mermory will be there waiting when I get another burning..... Maybe by then....I might see S939 MB's with DDR2 slots....

thanks
nc

 

[Paul]

Hi Guys!!

I just couldn't resist, the money was burning a hole in my pocket.... I =
purchased some "Patriot 2GB PC3200 DDR Dual Channel Memory".

The S939 MB and DDR2 mermory will be there waiting when I get another =
burning..... Maybe by then....I might see S939 MB's with DDR2 =
slots....

thanks

Post back how well it works. Whether you could run the Patriot
at DDR400 dual channel, at its rated timings. How much voltage
it needed. Whether it is Prime95 stable or not. Other people
might want to try some of that stuff

Paul

 

[Norm]

Post back how well it works. Whether you could run the Patriot
at DDR400 dual channel, at its rated timings. How much voltage
it needed. Whether it is Prime95 stable or not. Other people
might want to try some of that stuff

Paul

It's on back order...:-(

 

[Norm]

It's on back order...:-(

Canceled order...They have no idea when available

New idea....pocket still burning... Maybe a S939 with AGP