Getting an Epox 8kda3j: Question about memory

filmore crashcart

Senior member
Dec 18, 1999
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I ordered this board with 1 gig (2x 512) of Kingston ddr400 value ram. I assume they're both double side modules. I downloaded the motherboard supplement manual today and it states that you need to use a single sided module and a double sided module in a 2 dim configuration or you have a hit in performance. They didn't say how much of a hit or if this means I'll be getting errors in windows. It stated that to use the 3 dimm slots, you need to have 3 single sided modules.
Anyone know what kind of problems I'll have with two identical modules? I called Mwave where I got it from and their tech person didn't have a clue as to what Epox was talking about and kept insisting that 2 modules of the same type would work fine.
Anyone got info on this? I'm new to the nforce3 board.
 

Vee

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Jun 18, 2004
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A performance hit with more than 1GB ram or too many modules is quite normal. This is not an EPoX issue. People just don't realize this. (what they don't know...) (This is the most pressing requirement for DDR2 or better DDR3. DDR2 will do nothing for speed. The increased latencies will eat any gains from higher bandwidth. DDR2 will however hopefully allow us to have more ram.)
I don't quite understand the manual here though. Are you reading it right? I thought 2 dimms were normally ok, regardless of sides. But I've got dual channel in all my machines that have more than 1 stick of ram, so that might be it.
If it is any comfort to you, A64 seem to be less hurt than P4 by this.

P.S. - Oh, I almost forgot. You will get a slight decrease in bandwidth, with an A64. This will only show up as a performance hit in those apps which bottlenecks in bandwidth. Intel's P4 chipsets, on the other hand, exhibit a hit in latency, that show up as a general drop in performance. However, one should note that in many cases, the increased performance due to more memory, is of a completely different magnitude! Our 2GB P4Cs rocks on our demanding tools! Performance penalties or not. So IMO, it's foolish to be overly concerned about this. Things to avoid though, are many small dimms, and more than 1GB ram if you don't actually need it.
 

filmore crashcart

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Dec 18, 1999
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I don't quite understand the manual here though. Are you reading it right? I thought 2 dimms were normally ok, regardless of sides.

Yeah, that's the thing.... why would I have to mix a single sided and double sided module in a two dimm configuration? That's exactly what the suppliment recommended and it gives no explanation why. I bought two modules of 3200 512 identical, and now the suppliment states this:

Follow the recommendation below for maximum memory performance:

then it goes on to show a diagram for 2 Dimms config having a mix of a double sided and a single sided module in any configuration over the 3 slots. To use all 3 dimms, it only recommends 3 single sided modules. Using only 1 dimm can either be double or single sided.

I'm assuming I won't be noticing any real performance hit since I don't plan to overclock by much.

Thanks for your reply.