Mixing ram question

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Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
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I asked this as part of my other thread, but it got lost and was never answered, so I will quickly ask in a new thread.
____________________

I have 1 stick of OCZ 2gb 800 ram, and have ordered a gskill 2x2gb 800 kit.

Will there be any downside to populating slots 1 and 2 with the 2x2gb 800 gskill kit, slot 3 with the single 1x2 OCZ 800 stick, and leaving slot 4 empty?

BTW, I am running Win 7 64 bit OS.

Thanks again
 
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Compman55

Golden Member
Feb 14, 2010
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You will be running in single channel mode. This will give a slight loss in overall memory throughput but often will not cause a stability problem unless the board is picky.
 
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Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
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Thanks for that Compman,

Would the slower throughput with the 3 sticks be such that I would be better off with just the 4gb Gskill kit?

Also, what would be the odds of being able to run the gskill kit with a pair of OCS matched, if I could find another stick?
 
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aaksheytalwar

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2012
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I would stick to 2 or 4 modules for dual channel ram. If you have a dual core 4gb is enough. Unless you have a core i5 with a 6800 or 6900 level card, 4gb is enough, otherwise get at least 8 gb
 
Yellowbeard

Yellowbeard

Golden Member
Sep 9, 2003
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What motherboard and CPU are you using?

Also, mixing memory is best avoided if possible. It can be like taking both your wife and your girlfriend on a date at the same time. It can cause compatibility issues, panic, and failure to start.
 
fffblackmage

fffblackmage

Platinum Member
Dec 28, 2007
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If you need more ram, you'll want that third stick of ram, even if it has to run on single-channel mode.
 
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Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
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Blain said:
Are all the memory modules rated for the same voltage and latencies?
Click to expand...

I have to assume that all 4 are slots have the same specs.
Anyone else comment on Blain's question?

MoBo - ASUS M3A78-EM
CPU - AMD Phenom X3 8750 2.4ghz
OS - Windows 7 64 bit
 
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Anteaus

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2010
2,448
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Many boards support asyncronous ram configurations, allowing you to run dual and single channel at the same time. For example, let's say you have 3 2GB modules. You can run 4GB in dual channel mode and run the last 2GB in single channel mode. Another example would be if you have a 4GB module and a 2GB module. It will allow you to use 4GB in dual channel and 2GB in single channel, even though you are only using two slots.

I'm familier with this because I've done it on a few occasions with 2 different machines. I'm not sure how widespread this feature is however. Check your MB book. In both cases, it would state that it was providing asynchronous operation at boot where it displays the ram and specifiy how much was allocated to dual/single channel operation.
 
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Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
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Anteaus said:
For example, let's say you have 3 2GB modules. You can run 4GB in dual channel mode and run the last 2GB in single channel mode.
Click to expand...

Thanks Anteaus,

This is the exact situation that I will have.

Question 1) Will the mobo automatically run the first pair of 2mb sticks in duel channel mode, and the third 2mb stick in single channel mode. or do I have to set this in bios somewhere?

Question 2) It seems, according to your explaination, that the slowdown on single channel would only occure when spiling over into the 3rd stick. is this correct?
____________

Now, as far as my the manual goes, it says to use the following configs:

Single stick in either A1 or B1
Single pair in A1-B1
Double pairs (1 ea) in A1-B1 and A2-B2

No reference is made for 1 pair, and 1 single, so I guess I will just have to try it and see if it works. If it won't work, I may also try to find a single OCZ stick to go with the one I already have, unless I find that 4gb is enough for my needs.
 
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Anteaus

Platinum Member
Oct 28, 2010
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1. In my case the motherboard automatically configured it. There was also an explanation of this in my motherboard manual. I would definitely look there to see if what your options are. It may not be possible with your particular board.

2. I'm not certain exactly how it works, but I think that it works the way you think it does. I personally didn't notice any slowdown in that configuration. Hopefully someone else can shed some light on it.

Good luck
 
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Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
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Blain said:
I was asking about the memory specifications not the MB.
Click to expand...

Of course that was what you meant........ I knew that.........AHm....Ahm
I don't know what I was thinking when I responded to that post

Anyway, the nearest I can tell the nodules are as follows:

Gskill 2x2gb Ki
F2-6400CL5D-4GBNT
800 / 5-5-5-15 / 1.8 Volts

OCZ 1/2gb stick
ocz2rpr800c44gk
800 / 4-4-4-15 / 2.1 Volts

Looks problematic, unless I can run the Gskill at 2.1 Volts, or the OCZ at 1.8 Volts.
I am not over clocking, so maybe I can run them both at 1.9 Volts, or maybe I can run the OCZ at 5-5-5-15 and at 1.8 Volts. I have to check and see if my Mobo can be set manually.

OK, the manual says that the options for Memory Timings arre [Auto] and [DCT 0] and I don't knoow what the latter of the two means.

Any comments?
 
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Blain

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
23,643
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The JEDEC DDR2 voltage standard is 1.8v
I would just stick with running the G.Skill memory in dual channel mode.
 
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Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
1,151
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OK, I have now removed the 1x2 (2gb) OCZ 800 ram stick, and have installed the 2x2 (4gb)Gskill 800 sticks.

It fired right up, is runing at its proper 1.8 volts, and the computer seems to be noticably smoother, if not even faster.

I also rean memtest86+ and there were no errors, so it all seems good to go. That was at 266MHz, now I will set at 400MHz and see how it goes.

Thanks,

BTW - Now I will try adding the 1x2 OCZ stick back in, and see what the effect is.
 
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Herkulese

Golden Member
Jan 24, 2001
1,151
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One odd thing though, when I run SisInfo (SIW) the first line says
"Warning! Wrong values reported by BIOS.

(It did this before with the OCZ ram as well, and I do have the latest BOIS installed)

Anyway, under "Device Locator" for both slot 1 ant 2 it gives two memory tinings.

4-4-4-10-16 at 266.7 MHz, at 1.8 volts
5-5-5-15-24 at 400.0 MHz, at 1.8 volts
__________

QUESTION: Both frequenceis are supported, and given these timings, I assume it would still be faster to run at 400 rather than 266, correct?
 
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