Can I add a 3rd stick of DDR 400 memory (PC3200) to a setup with matching 1GB pairs?

[blackrain]

I have an Abit VT7 mobo:
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/moth... 478&pPRODINFO=Specifications&fSEARCHTEXT=VT7


For various reasons, I now have a 1GB DDR400 PC3200 stick of memory lying around. I have an Abit VT7 mobo with dual channel support for Dual DDR 400. I currently have 2 matching 1GB sticks in there right now. First, can I add this third stick of DDR400 PC3200? And if I do, will it hinder the Dual channel performance of the matching pair enough that I shouldn't do it?

 

[RebateMonger]

Yes, you can add a third 1GB module. If you add it, it'll disable dual channel memory support. No big deal. Except in benchmarks, you'll likely find the system with 50% more memory to be faster.

 

[blackrain]

Guess i'll add it then

 

[wpcoe]

I have a P4-3.0Ghz on a Asus P4P800 mobo and a 120GB Seagate hard drive running WinXP Pro.

Currently, I have two 256MB DDR-400 sticks running dual-channel.

I also have a loose 512MB stick and another 256MB stick, both also DDR-400.

As per above, I realize adding either/both of them will result in loss of dual-channel. Would doubling the installed RAM from 512MB to 1024MB compensate for the loss of dual-channel?

If so, should I go whole hog and add both the 512MB and 256MB?

 

[Elixer]

Guess i'll add it then

Don't forget to run memtest on it overnight, lots of times, you need to change voltage / timings to get the system stable with 3 DIMMS, and in some cases, you can't get it stable, since the RAM is too different.

 

[dbcooper1]

I have a P4-3.0Ghz on a Asus P4P800 mobo and a 120GB Seagate hard drive running WinXP Pro.

Currently, I have two 256MB DDR-400 sticks running dual-channel.

I also have a loose 512MB stick and another 256MB stick, both also DDR-400.

As per above, I realize adding either/both of them will result in loss of dual-channel. Would doubling the installed RAM from 512MB to 1024MB compensate for the loss of dual-channel?

If so, should I go whole hog and add both the 512MB and 256MB?

I would think it would run much better with 1GB in single channel than with 512MB in dual.

 

[wpcoe]

Thanks for the encouragement. I put in both the 512MB and 256MB modules, and the system wouldn't boot. Turns out the 256MB is problematic, so now I am happily running that old machine with 1GB single-channel RAM at 400, and with the processor mildly overclocked to 3.2Ghz, boy is Windows XP snappy! Of course, it's a fresh install, but still, it's impressive.