ASUS A8N-E & Memory

[Zenoth]

What's up guys.

I got questions regarding Memory mostly, that will be installed on the mentioned Motherboard.

I will soon buy a pair of Corsair TwinX XL PC-3200 sticks, 512 MB each (default Latencies of 2.0-2-2-5). As a Memory upgrade.

As you guys can see, my current Memory, roughtly 2 years-old, consists of two sticks of Kingston Value RAM, PC-3200. At default Latencies of 3.0-3-3-8, actually running at 3.0-3-3-5 on my system. Of course set as Dual-Channel, at 1T.

Now, I'd like to know something ...

I'm starting (and we pretty much all will by next year or so) to notice that it can help to have 2 GB of system Memory, especially with the recently released Battlefield 2, and the upcoming "big titles". So I am considering doing so. Especially when considering, also, that I often host recent 3-D on-line games, and more Memory in such situations can help.

However, I don't feel like buying two kits of that Corsair Memory I want. I still just want one for now.

But, once I change my Motherboard, I will still have that old Kingston Memory. That's still 1024 MB there.

So I was wondering ...

Would it be possible to run all four sticks without any sort of compatibility problems ?

As in the usual configuration.

Motherboard has four Memory slots. Let's call them A1, A2, B1 and B2.

Memory brand "x" at 2-2-2-5 goes into A1 and B1.
Memory brand "y" at 3-3-3-8 goes into A2 and B2.

The default Latencies are different, the brand is different, but they're both DDR, at PC-3200, and all of them are 512 MB sticks.

I'm under the feeling that the newer Corsair Memory would downgrade its default Latencies at 3.0-3-3-8 to match those of the older Kingston's. But I'm not sure. I don't know what could be the effects of using both pairs of Memory sticks on that A8N-E.

Any of you got suggestions ? Comments ? Facts ?

I'd appreciate.

Thanks for your time and help.

 

[Zenoth]

Bump.

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
I'm under the feeling that the newer Corsair Memory would downgrade its default Latencies at 3.0-3-3-8 to match those of the older Kingston's. But I'm not sure. I don't know what could be the effects of using both pairs of Memory sticks on that A8N-E.

Any of you got suggestions ? Comments ? Facts ?

That is correct; all RAM will need to run only as quickly as the slowest stick(s). No one will be able to tell you if the two sets will be compatible because one model of memory may have different chips than the same model produced at a different time. You'll have to try it and see. If it does work, I can tell you for sure that you'll have to run at 2T instead of 1T, which will degrade performance some (it's not noticeable from my experience though). Not even the Venice core will allow you to run at 1T.

To avoid the same problem when building my new A8N-E system, I sold my Kingston 2x512MB HyperX PC3200 and instead purchased a set of Corsair 2x1GB TWINX2048-1024C2PT. If you want to test your luck, try the 2 sticks of Corsair with the 2 sticks of Kingston. They may get along. If not, you'll have to either eat the restocking fee, or sell them.

 

[Zenoth]

Ok, thanks for your help dude.

Much appreciated