MSI 875 - req. clarification on memory setup

[sillious]

I need some help on deciding memory for this mobos. I appreciate all your comments
and help, but one request, please be specific. As you can see, I'm not a big techie,
and get confused so easily

From the chart below, taken from MSI Taiwan website,
1. is this the only combination (the highlighted) that will give me a bandwith of 6.4 GB/s?

Since the production of the mobos, I understand DDR400 was latest, but now there
are DDR433 (e.g. XMS3500 DDR 433MHz)
2. is this my restriction? I cannot go above PC3200 or 200MHz or DDR400?

There are 4 DIMM, and to activate Dual Channel, I need to have atleast 2 same kind
of memory,
3. what kind are we talking about?
4. if I have 3 or all 4 memory slots full of memory, will it deactivate the Dual channel or
will it still keep one Dual channel activated and give me extra bandwith for the extra
memory I install?
5. since the requirement for a Dual channel is a pair of same kind of memory, and I have
all 4 slots, can I have it activated 2 Dual channel installing all 4 same specifications
of memory, or 1 is my limit?

There are so many brand of memory in the market,
6. what is your best recommendation of the brand (regardless of price)
7. what is your second best recommendation?


Model - Speed - Clock - Data width - Bandwidth
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SDRAM66 - PC66 - 66 MHz - 64 Bit - 0.5 GB/s
SDRAM100 - PC100 - 100 MHz - 64 Bit - 0.8 GB/s
SDRAM133 - PC133 - 133 MHz - 64 Bit - 1.1 GB/s
DDR266 - PC2100 -133 MHz - 64 Bit - 2.1 GB/s
*DDR266 - Dual Channel PC2100 - 133 MHz - 64 Bit - 4.2 GB/s
DDR333 - PC2700 - 166 MHz - 64 Bit - 2.7 GB/s
*DDR333 - Dual Channel PC2700 - 166 MHz - 64 Bit - 5.4 GB/s
DDR400 - PC3200 - 200 MHz - 64 Bit - 3.2 GB/s
*DDR400 - Dual Channel PC3200 - 200 MHz - 64 Bit 6.4 - GB/s
RDRAM - 400 PC800 - 400 MHz - 16 Bit - 1.6 GB/s
RDRAM - 400 Dual Channel PC800 - 400 MHz - 2 x 16 Bit - 3.2 GB/s
RDRAM - 533 Dual Channel PC1066 - 533 MHz - 2 x 16 Bit - 4.2 GB/s
RDRAM - 600 Dual Channel PC1200 - 600 MHz - 2 x 16 Bit - 4.8 GB/s
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.msi.com.tw/html/e_service/techexpress/tech_column/6758/page2.htm

Thank you all in advanced for your help.

 

[sillious]

sorry for messing up the link, here it is again,

http://www.msi.com.tw/html/e_service/techexpress/tech_column/6758/page2.htm

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums sillious.

• For an i875P board, my top two picks would be Corsair TwinX 3700 or else the Corsair XMS3500C2 modules.
• Dual-channel is essential to getting full performance from the board
• For dual-channel to work, you need to have
  • modules on both memory channels (meaning, it matters which slots you plug the RAM into)
  • either two modules or four modules, not three
  • the pairs of modules must have identical logical organization (ie, can't mix double-sided and single-sided modules even if their capacity is the same)
  • preferably the modules should be identical in brand & model
• Installing three modules will force the board to run in single-channel mode, no exceptions
• You would want at LEAST PC3200 dual-channel, but faster stuff leaves headroom for overclocking and may address some instability gremlins (to make a long story short)
• You may want to consider an Asus or Abit alternative to MSI, based on real-world users' comments

 

[sillious]

Thank you mechBgon
for the warm welcome, and for replying to my post. This will help.