Ram question...

[Dethred]

I just ordered my AMD board with 4x Dimms for DDR 400 Ram. I have 2x1gb sticks of DDR400 and I have my old 2x256mb DDR400 as well. Can I use all 4 on the motherboard or will it cause problems?

[Dethred]

Re: Ram question...

^^^Bump^^^

[imported_Wasp]

Re: Ram question...

You can use 4 memory sticks with AMD motherboards but at the cost of some performance. The reason is the memory controller inside AMD 64. With 2 memory sticks you can use whats called 1T command at 400Mhz. When you use 4 you have to use 2T command and in some cases go down to 333Mhz. Even if you can use 400Mhz the change to 2T command takes away approx 1000Mb/sec in perfomance. From 5500MB/sec (roughly) to 4500MB/sec

If I where you I would use the 2x1GB sticks and forget about the other 2.

[Dethred]

Re: Ram question...

You can use 4 memory sticks with AMD motherboards but at the cost of some performance. The reason is the memory controller inside AMD 64. With 2 memory sticks you can use whats called 1T command at 400Mhz. When you use 4 you have to use 2T command and in some cases go down to 333Mhz. Even if you can use 400Mhz the change to 2T command takes away approx 1000Mb/sec in perfomance. From 5500MB/sec (roughly) to 4500MB/sec

If I where you I would use the 2x1GB sticks and forget about the other 2.

Ok cool, thanks. Also, with the 4 dimms, how would I utilize Dual Channeling? The ram is dual channel but I am not sure if I'm even using that now.

[imported_Wasp]

Re: Ram question...

On my motherboard I use the first pair of slots near the CPU. To be shure you can do a memory bandwith benchmark with Sisoft Sandra. If you are running dual you should be above 5000MB/sec.

[openheimer]

Re: Ram question...

You can use 4 memory sticks with AMD motherboards but at the cost of some performance. The reason is the memory controller inside AMD 64. With 2 memory sticks you can use whats called 1T command at 400Mhz. When you use 4 you have to use 2T command and in some cases go down to 333Mhz. Even if you can use 400Mhz the change to 2T command takes away approx 1000Mb/sec in perfomance. From 5500MB/sec (roughly) to 4500MB/sec

If I where you I would use the 2x1GB sticks and forget about the other 2.

That is a pretty accurate statement, I would add though that if the 256 is single sided he may find 1T will work at 400Mhz. Once you get to 512 and up, the MOBO may not support four slots and the drop to 333Mhz will happen.