PC133 not backward compatible, can I use ECC?

[BCinSC]

So I bought a PC133 stick cause it was super cheap compared to PC100 and learned immediately that it won't work. I have some old PC100 ECC DIMMs -would they?
Thanks
Bruce

 

[Sid59]

BX is old and can't take the newer High Density RAM. Good luck finding older ram.

 

[ElFenix]

bx and 810 are limited to 128mbit chips. anything larger doesn't work.

 

[BCinSC]

So I bought a PC133 stick cause it was super cheap compared to PC100 and learned immediately that it won't work. I have some old PC100 ECC DIMMs -would they?
Thanks
Bruce

 

[BCinSC]

Chance of MB damage pluggin HD DIMM in? How about ECC DIMM?

 

[ChefJoe]

No damage, but PC133 doesn't exclude older systems, it's the fact that it was a High Density stick of ram. I have a couple PC133 256 mb sticks in my Abit BE6-II 2.0 board (a 440BX).

 

[RickH]

---------- 29,007 posts and he thinks BX chipset board is limited to 128MB DIMMS?? I had four 256s in mine. R

 

[Zepper]

Yes, the BX chipset supports ECC. If some modules are ECC and some aren't then all will work non-ECC.
.bh.
:moon:

 

[josphII]

it all depends on the board, ive got an "old" abit vp6 and it accepts high density 512mb sticks

 

[bozo1]

Originally posted by: josphII
it all depends on the board, ive got an "old" abit vp6 and it accepts high density 512mb sticks

Because that's a Via chipset based board. The limit is on all Intel chipsets (not just BX) with the exception of some of the server chipsets.

 

[c8]

Its confirmed on Kingston site:

PC133 modules MAY NOT BE BACKWARD COMPATIBLE to PC100 machines. Systems using the 440BX, 810 or 810e chipsets should only use PC100 memory

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

PC133 modules MAY NOT BE BACKWARD COMPATIBLE to PC100 machines. Systems using the 440BX, 810 or 810e chipsets should only use PC100 memory

Unfortunately they do not tell you why it may not be compatible. 🙂

IF you are using an BX motherboard , find yourself some PC133 256mb dimms which are Double sided this should work fine.
As mentioned in above posts, high density ram will not work.


As to ECC sdram, i thought the chipset on the motherboard had to support it otherwise it would not work, but i can't say for sure.

 

[Confused]

Originally posted by: RickH
---------- 29,007 posts and he thinks BX chipset board is limited to 128MB DIMMS?? I had four 256s in mine. R

He said that it's 128mbit chips, not MB. You need low density, double sided, not high density, single sided.


Confused

 

[Slammy1]

I was confused by Asus' web site which said my board could handle any 256 MB PC133 stick. There was no mention of high density chips, but I assume they were wrong based on my subsequent reading. So, I got a cheap price on a 256MB CL2 PC100 memory stick and I'll just await 800 MHz FSB to come down in price. From what I've read, the BX boards can handle the chips they just see half the memory (a 256MB HD DIMM reads as 128MB). This may vary by MB, but I never read about a PC133 DIMM simply not working, just that they did and it was off on memory count.

As far as ECC, check the web site for your MB. It should, but I'm not so up on BX boards I can claim they all run ECC.

 

[Jhhnn]

It has nothing to do with pc133 vs pc100, "sidedness"' or the total number of chips vs memory capacity of the dimm. It has to do with the way the addressing scheme works. Older Intel chipsets require that memory be organized in up to 8 banks (2 per dimm) of no more than 128MB each for a total capacity of 1028. Late model high density dimms organize 256MB as a single bank of 256, rather than two of 128 each. So the chipset recognizes only half or none of it, depending on the whim of the electron Gods...

The Crucial memory configurator will supply the right stuff, but it won't be cheap, or guaranteed used memory with the proper geometry is available from several online vendors...

Older ecc memory may just work, again, it depends on the geometry. Non buffered and ecc dimms can't be mixed, but you can't hurt anything by trying ecc dimms in a non-ecc board. The chipset just won't recognize it.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

not only the density, the chip's type is another key point.
BX and 810/815 doesn't take modules using 16 of "32Mbitx4" chips.
You must use modules using 16 of "16Mbitx8" chips.