high density and low density ram?

[CanOWorms]

What's the difference? I read a post in the FS/FT forum and the guy said he had some low density RAM for the Intel folks. Should Intel mobos have low density ram?

 

[MisterNi]

READ THE FRIGGIN' AT FAQ!!!!! 🙂

 

[CanOWorms]

Thank you, kind sir. 🙂

 

[CanOWorms]

A question.. 🙂

I have an i810 motherboard. I was looking at Crucial and their PC133 ram is 32Meg x 64. Would that be compatible? I guess I really don't undestand the FAQ much 😕

 

[MisterNi]

<< Generally 256 megabit chips are what we call high density. For example, the BX chipset cannot handle RAM chip densities greater than 128Mbit (and that is on later steppings....earlier steppings had a limit of 64Mbit). Later Intel chipsets have limits ranging from 256Mbit (i810, 815) to 512Mbit (i845) and beyond. >>


Looks like high density is a go on the i810.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

the number 32x64 means the module is 256MB, 32x72 for 256MB with ECC.

the number 16x8 or 32x4 means the individual chip type, 16x8 or 32x4 are both 128Mbit chip, 16 of them make up a 256MB module. 16x8 is the normal stuff, work on Intel and all other brand chipsets. 32x4 is the so-called high density stuff, doesn't work on Intel BX, 810, 815, etc chipsets. There is also 8x16 type.

the number 16x8 is actually 4 banks x 4 Mbit x 8, 32x4 is actually 4 banks x 8 Mbit x 4.

 

[CanOWorms]

OK, I'm confused now. One person says high density is OK for i810 and another says no... Is 32Meg x 64 high density? 😕 😕 😕 😕

 

[Kingofcomputer]

to make things clear:
32M x 64 bit denotes the size of the module = 256MB
32M x 72 bit denotes 256MB module with ECC.

32M x 64 bit module could be made by sixteen 16M x 8 bit (4 bank x 4M x 8 bit) SDRAM chips,
or made by eight 32M x 4 bit (4 bank x 8M x 4 bit) chips.
this 32M x4 bit type chip is so-called high density by pricewatch vendors which is not right, the width is just 4 bit while regular is 8 bit, it should be called "narrow width memory".
both are double side, double bank modules.

32M x 64 bit module could also be made by eight 32M x 8 bit (4 bank x 8M x 8bit) chips,
this type of module is single side, single bank module.
this 32M x 8 bit chip is really high density compaing to 16M x 8 bit chip.


according to ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/29065602.pdf
810 chipset's integrated DRAM controller
- 8 MB to 256 MB using 16Mb/64Mb technology (512 MB using 128Mb technolgy)
- supports up to 2 double sided DIMM modules
- 64-bit data interface
- 100Mhz system memory bus frequency
- Support for Asymmetrical DRAM addressing only
- Support for x8, x16 and x32 DRAM device width
...

it''s clear that 810 doesn't support x4 width memory - those pricewatch so-called high density chip,
it also doesn't support 256Mb (such as 32M x 8 bit) chip - real high density chip.