Motherboard that uses DDR RAM or SDRAM?

[Frankie]

I'm going to be building a new computer soon and I have a question about motherboards. I have one now that has 320mb SDRAM. I want to use what I have now and then maybe later get me some DDR Ram. My question is this, is there an AMD motherboard that will allow you to use either SDRAM or DDR RAM. I have a feeling the answer is NO, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Thanks.

 

[steimm]

I have a motherboard that supports both, but it's not AMD-chipset-based, it's ALi Magik-chipset-based.
Currently running a AMD XP 1800+ @ 2000+ and 512 SDRAM PC133 CL2.
I'm satisfied and it's rockstable. The performance I get is better that I thought it would be, I've borrowed some DDR-RAM aswell just to see the difference in performance and after that test I don't think I'm going to get DDR for this motherboard. Next step is to get up to VIA KT333 or the next generation after that.

/steimm
BTW, the mobo is ASUS A7A266-E PCB-rev 1.11

 

[Chas]

ECS k7S5a SIS chipset uses both I built 2 and they are nice ( mobo is only around $52 bucks!!! I am runnibg an ahlon 1800 xp and Duron 800 on the other .

 

[AndyHui]

ASUS A7A266-E if you can find it.

 

[Peter]

ECS K7S5A, K7AMA, K7VTA2 for standard ATX boards; PC-Chips M841LR all-in-one.

regards, Peter

 

[Yvo]

Plenty of motherboards listed but I just want to add...

You cannot what so ever mix SDR & DDR ram... so if you have an ECS K7S5A for example and put a stick on SDR and DDR in the board you will have probs.

BTW... I recommend just going for a 100% DDR solution... save up nower and get something a tad bit better later. ECS in my opinion has some problems to work out. It is a real hit or miss situation with their motherboards. Half of 'em are problem free but the other half are picky as hell (a few of 'em even rejected a Crucial PC2100 256MB stick.) So I would just save up and get something better with DDR then. Sure you have plenty of SDR but the prob is that SDR is old and that anything above a 1.4GHz will basically saturate the performance due to your memory.

 

[Frankie]

I knew I couldn't use SDRAM and DDR together, but I thought that they were different harware wise too and that they both use different types of slots. Since I want something that I want to upgrade in the future I might break down and get me one that uses DDR only. I was planning on using ASUS anyway, they make some good ones.

 

[RazB]

In regards to the K7S5A
<Half of 'em are problem free but the other half are picky as hell (a few of 'em even rejected a Crucial PC2100 256MB stick.) >

Sorry but can't agree....I've built 3 for my home (all running with no problems) 1 for my church, helped a buddy build one, have a Nephew who has built 2 and 2 friends that have built 1 each ALL with no problems. That would be 9 K7S5A's that are running with no problems. If the hit or miss tag were true, at least one of these builds would've gone wrong. Heck, my one experience with ASUS was terrible and I'll never buy their over priced boards again. My belief is that in most cases, DIYer's are trying to get funky with a board that's not designed for anything but a traditional, no-overclocked setup. PS - we've installed everything from 950 Durons to XP1900's.

 

[Peter]

Franky, these boards simply have two sets of DIMM sockets, two each for DDR and SDRAM. The only drawback is that this makes the board an inch or so wider than others.

regards, Peter

 

[HowDoesItWork]

You might just want to go DDR. I understand the upgrade path thing and had actually looked into it myself a while. The thing is that the 'hybird' boards (SRAM+DDR) were ~$45 more expensive than a pure DDR board with the same features. That money will buy you half a 256mb stick of DDR.
Bottom line is that you might not save as much money as you would think, just check into it.

 

[Peter]

Well since the ECS boards are the cheapest of them all (K7S5A w/LAN and sound going for around $55), that's a rather moot point.

 

[inCreek]

I tried to put a system together with ECS K7S5A, but had problems to get it started. When switched on CPU Fan starts and all drives get power, but no display or POST beeps. I have tried with and without RAM and graphics cards but no luck. Quite a few other users had the same problem with this board, check out the TechSupport Forum or the www.hardwareanalysis.com forums.

I even had the MB replaced by the vendor, still no luck. I am using Athlon XP 1800+. I am ready to give up and return both to the vendor.

There are many users who had no problem with this MB. Apparently this MB, can be very sensitive to PSU and RAM modules. But it was a great price ($34 when purchased with CPU at Outpost.com) and great features (SDR/DDR, Audio, LAN).

 

[Peter]

If you can't power it up, then maybe your PSU is too weak on +5Vstandby. 2 amps recommended, lower than 1.5 amps hopeless. Or you forgot to move the "CMOS clear" jumper to "Normal".

regards, Peter