P4 2.6Ghz, 800Mhz with two different RAM

[Deadtrees]

Motherboard: Asus P4P800
CPU: P4 2.6Ghz 800Mhz
Ram: Bank 1: 256 Generic PC3200 Samsung. (SPD Timing Table: 2.5, 3, 3)
Bank 2: 512 Generic PC3200 Samsung. (SPD Timing Table: 2.5, 4, 4)

Cpu-z says that the memory is running on a sigle channel.
FSBRAM is 1:1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question:

I thought 800Mhz was possible by running two of same RAMs and that's why it was
called 'Dual Channel". But seeing those two very different RAMs working well at 800Mhz as single channel, I guess I was wrong or am I?

 

[stevty2889]

The actual FSB is 200mhz. Your P4 has a quad pumped bus, making it 800mhz. DDR=double data rate, so it's running at 400mhz. As for dual channel..it won't work if the sticks aren't at least the same size, and it's best to have 2 sticks of the same thing.

Dual channel doesn't make them run at 800mhz. It doubles the bus width, but doesn't increase the speed. Basicly it's like adding a second lane to a road, but keeping the speed limit the same. If you want to run dual channel, get a second stick of the 512mb PC3200 Samsung, and take out the 256mb stick. P4's are very bandwidth hungry, so not running dual channel hurts the performace but up to about 20%.

 

[Deadtrees]

Thanks for the great information!!!!