abit nf7-s dual channel query

[ManDooM]

I'm using the same machine for both gaming/productivity and as a Digital Audio Workstation for recording/producing music. And I NEED MORE RAM. I have 2x512 DDR400 in dual channel but that's not cutting it for the audio stuff.

I'd love to have 2GB but if I add a stick of 1GB to the third slot, how will that affect performace? With two 512 sticks and a 1GB stick in the third slot, could it utilize the memory effectively? Or would I have to stick the 1GB in the first slot and possibly lose the dual channel.

 

[Munky]

I have a AN7 motherboard, which is similar to yours, and the manual says that if you use all 3 slots, then the memory will run at 166mhz, instead of 200. You will lose some performance, but I'm not sure how the dual channel operation will be affected by this.

 

[ManDooM]

I just checked my manual and it will run at 200mhz with 2GB. But with 3GB it will be forced down to 166.

 

[Fern]

My NF7-S v2 manual says if you use three sticks, 200mhz not supported.

However, many with an NF7-S have confirmed to me that they have no problem with the 3rd stick. No one has ever told me they couldn't get 200mhz with a 3rd stick

I do not know if the size of ram is a problem, as I'm not sure what size sticks those with 3 sticks were using (2 x 256 plus 1 x 512MB, or 2 x 512MB plus 1 x 1gig).

If you're gonna run DC with three sticks, put the 2 512MB sticks in dimm slots 1 & 2, with the 1gig stick in slot 3.

Fern

 

[Kenai]

See my sig

I am running 2x256 and 1x512 @ 200 in Dual Channel without any issues.
Whether or not you can do that with 2Gb I have no idea.
Also the Kingston Hyper-X seems to be great RAM, for me at least.

With decent RAM I see no reason why you couldn't push 200MHZ.

My Hyper-X in 2x256 was able to hit around 225, never pushed past that. With the third stick I was not able to reach past 210 or so, so I dropped back to 200 and been running that way for a year stable.