Asus A8N-E

[imported_Aman]

Hi All,

Have just bought an Athlon A64 based machine from Mesh with the Asus A8N-E board. It came with 2 * 256MB memory modules placed in 'odd' banks i.e. leaving an empty bank between them and another empty bank to the side. I've bought an additional 2*512 Corsair XMS modules and they work fine when placed in the 'even' empty banks.

However, if I remove all the modules and place two like modules next to each other in any orientation the PC doesn't power up.

Are there rules about how you place memory modules in the 4 banks? If so, what is the best arrangement (for performance) considering the 4 modules I've got?

Thanks

 

[imported_Kensai]

Stick them in Dual-Channel.
The first pair in the first channel a/b slots and the other pair in the second a/b slots.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

The way the 2 x 256 came is the proper way to load 2 modules.

My best advice would be to sell the 2 x 256, and just use the 2 x 512
Using four sticks with the current A64 systems has a performance penalty. It will cause the ram speed to drop from DDR400 1T to DDR333 2T(some can do better) which whacks performance pretty good. And with mix matched modules (256 and 512) you may have additional problems.

The majority of general apps and games won't utilize ram over 1gb anyway

If you know that you need a lot of ram (heavy encoding, Cad, Graphics Design, etc..)
Get another 2 x512 that match or even better get 2 x 1024 modules