if you use all 3 dimm slots in an nforce2 chipset, can you still run it at dual channel mode?? 1 dimm slot is 1 channel, and the 2 other dimms are the 2nd channel right? so if you can use dual channel with all filled up, how do you fill them up properly?
nforce2 and dual channel memory question
- Thread starter jjyiz28
- Start date
Basically slot 1 and 2 or 3 bind together to for a 128-bit interface (dual channel). Once the 128-bit interface is up, adding a stick in the extra slot does not change the interface, just the amount of memory.
thanks
so i could have 3 256mb modules, that means 1 channel has 256mb, and the 2nd channel has 512mb, this is fine right?? both channels do not have to have the same amount of memory?
so i could have 3 256mb modules, that means 1 channel has 256mb, and the 2nd channel has 512mb, this is fine right?? both channels do not have to have the same amount of memory?
mechBgon
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I run three 512's on mine. However, I've heard people mention using non-equal sizes, so evidently it can be done.
If you don't already have modules, why not go with two 512's and leave the door open for another one if you ever feel the need
If you don't already have modules, why not go with two 512's and leave the door open for another one if you ever feel the need
According to something from a manufactures site that I read you can put in whatever size sticks you want and run dual channel. The catch to this is that only memory in equal amounts will be dual channel. Lets say you have 3 512MB sticks. Only the one on the independent channel and one other will be in dual channel, the other will not. On the other hand, if you put a 512mb stick in the independent channel and 2-256MB sticks in the other 2 slots all of the memory will be in dual channel. Sorry, I know I am explaining this poorly.
Brian
Brian
But when you put at least 2 sticks in, it binds the 1st and 2nd channel together, so it's like one big 128-bit slot instead of 2 64-bit slots. In fact, in a utility like CPUz, a normal board will show you information about each stick of RAM. In a nForce2 mobo, with 2 or 3 sticks installed, you can not view each stick, as the system sees it all as one big address reference space.
Hi guys. I have an ASUS A7N8X mobo (revision 1.04) with two sticks of Corsair XMS3200 RAM. Recently I upgraded my CPU to an Athlon XP T-Bred B 2600+. This has allowed me to run the board at 200MHz FSB. I recently ran the memory bandwidth benchmark in SiSoft Sandra and I got results of 2882MB/s and 2703MB/s. When I examined SiSoft more closely it said that the width was 64-bit. As pspada said, shouldn't this be 128-bit? To confirm my suspicions I took one stick out and ran SiSoft Sandra again. The scores this time were 2861MB/s and 2629MB/s, almost exactly the same. From all this I can only come to one conclusion and that is that the board is running in single channel mode. I don't quite understand why though. I have two identical sticks (or at least I thought so) and I have them in slots 1 and 3. Has anybody had a similar experience or any advice to share?
Welcome to Anantech BadHorsie.
I saw little to no increase in my memory benchmark with sisoft sandra after the increase from single to dual channel memory. I have the A7N8X Deluxe. The deluxe tells you if it is running in single or dual channel mode on the post screen, I imagine the regular board does as well.
Brian
hmm.. these are conflicting responses.
hey mechbgon, since you already have 3 dimm sticks, can you test for sure that you are able to run dual channel using 3 sticks? someone already mentioned it should be stated during POST.
hey mechbgon, since you already have 3 dimm sticks, can you test for sure that you are able to run dual channel using 3 sticks? someone already mentioned it should be stated during POST.
From what I understand POST should be shown on Mechs computer as 2 of the sticks would be operating in dual channel. The third stick would not be. I will try to find the article I read about this.
Do you already have this memory jjyiz28? If not, you should consider going with 512MB sticks.
Brian
i don't have an nforce2 chipset, i was just wondering, thats all. =)
please find the article about 2 of the memory runnign dual channel, and the 3rd one in single channel.
i tried searching as well but nothing about using all 3 dimms slots.
please find the article about 2 of the memory runnign dual channel, and the 3rd one in single channel.
i tried searching as well but nothing about using all 3 dimms slots.
BG4533 is right. There are two channels. So to use all the ram you need equal amounts in each channel. One channel has one dimm slot and the other has two. So you could put 2 x 256MB in one channel and 1 x 512MB in the other and run 1GB dual channel. If you put 512MB sticks in all three channels then you are using 1GB of ram in dual channel and 512MB single channel (edited after reading the following post).
mechBgon
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With Intel's dual-channel solutions, the modules are actually welded together into true 128-bit (or 144-bit) datapaths like pspada suggested. That's why you can't run DC on an Intel board with three modules.
With nForce2, the two 64-bit controllers remain independent, and the northbridge load-balances between them. Here's an excellent explaination courtesy of LostCircuits.
Looking at it one way, you could look at my system with three 512's and say that the northbridge can indeed only load-balance the first 1Gb of data, and then the last 512Mb is accessed in single-channel style. Stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, dual-channel doesn't really make a performance difference in most applications anyway. Its benefit is mainly that it gives a 40-60% boost in 3D framerate when using an nForce2 board that features onboard video. There have been some upset people howling over the fact that dual-channel is good for only a 0-5% performance boost when using a separate video card... they should've read this before making assumptions, eh?
Anyway, my A7N8X-Deluxe does say "Dual Channel" as people predicted, and it does end up using all 1.5Gb of RAM in the course of my work (easily confirmed in Task Manager). Here's a photo of its insides, if anyone's curious: nothing too fancy-lookin', but it works great. The power supply is flipped upside down, if anyone's wondering where its bottom fan went
Full specsGood explanation. In my last post I should have said that with 3 x 512MB sticks you would be using 1GB dual channel and 512MB in single channel. I'll edit that.
ahh, i understand now. excellent links
for intels dual channel configuration though, if you have 3 ram modules 512mb each, you will be running all your ram at single channel correct?
for intels dual channel configuration though, if you have 3 ram modules 512mb each, you will be running all your ram at single channel correct?
I've got 3 512Mb sticks of PC3200 in my 8RDA+, and CPUz reports:
Size 1536 MBytes
Channels # Dual
DDR-SDRAM (@400Mhz)
CAS # Latency 2.0 clocks
RAS # to CASE # Delay 3 clocks
RAS # Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (Tras) 8 clocks
Size 1536 MBytes
Channels # Dual
DDR-SDRAM (@400Mhz)
CAS # Latency 2.0 clocks
RAS # to CASE # Delay 3 clocks
RAS # Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (Tras) 8 clocks
mechBgon
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Yes, because Intel's memory controller wants to use pairs of modules as one virtual super-module. If you know what RAID0 is in regards to hard drives, that's about what Intel's DC chipsets do with memory modules.
On nForce2 Ultra 400 (the current dual-channel version of nForce2), the extra bandwidth is not really that essential for feeding just the CPU alone. It has twice the bandwidth that the CPU itself can handle. The Pentium4, on the other hand, has been wanting all the bandwidth it can lay its pins on, but single-channel DDR didn't have enough and not many folks liked RDRAM, so the P4 gives big improvements from DCDDR.
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