- Jun 30, 2004
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To abbreviate a story I've already summarized here in recent months, my brother lives in a primitive mountain cabin, yet has access to a fiber-optic internet gateway offering about 18 mb/s throughput downstream, and probably almost as fast upstream.
He needs a computer for web and e-mail access, and multi-media "HTPC" functionality. So we gave him a system using the D850MVL Intel motherboard, a 1.8A Ghz P4 socket-478 processor, and four slots for RAMBUS PC800-45 modules. Originally, the system had 512MB (2x256) of non-ECC RAMBUS modules installed -- the "CRIMMs" filling the remaining slots.
A friend had too much cyber-junk building up. He's given over to the compulsive-obsessive annual computer-build project -- a big focus of our mutual interest. He gave me a pile of cyber-junk he doesn't want to bother selling at EBay or sites like Anandtech's "For Sale/Trade."
Among the piles of "stuff" were several pairs of Toshiba non-ECC 128 MB modules (kits of 256 (2x128), and a kit of Samsung ECC double-sided 256MB modules -- or 512MB (2x256). I had a hunch, based on some readings of two or three years ago, that you could mix non-ECC and ECC RAM, set ECC to "disabled" in BIOS, and run all the modules as non-ECC.
So far, it seems to work fine. I am running MEMTEST86+v.1.70 against it.
But both the BIOS and MEMTEST86+ show that there is only 992MB of RAM. Usually, with a GB of RAM, the system shows close to 1,024MB available.
I understand that ECC has, for every 64 bits of memory, 8 bits of parity memory for a total of 72 bit -- or something similar to that description.
So I'm wondering, under any and all of these observations, why my system shows only 992MB available for two (2x256) 512MB kits including one set of ECC modules.
Any insights? comments? Answers? Thoughts on the matter? Responses will be much appreciated.
He needs a computer for web and e-mail access, and multi-media "HTPC" functionality. So we gave him a system using the D850MVL Intel motherboard, a 1.8A Ghz P4 socket-478 processor, and four slots for RAMBUS PC800-45 modules. Originally, the system had 512MB (2x256) of non-ECC RAMBUS modules installed -- the "CRIMMs" filling the remaining slots.
A friend had too much cyber-junk building up. He's given over to the compulsive-obsessive annual computer-build project -- a big focus of our mutual interest. He gave me a pile of cyber-junk he doesn't want to bother selling at EBay or sites like Anandtech's "For Sale/Trade."
Among the piles of "stuff" were several pairs of Toshiba non-ECC 128 MB modules (kits of 256 (2x128), and a kit of Samsung ECC double-sided 256MB modules -- or 512MB (2x256). I had a hunch, based on some readings of two or three years ago, that you could mix non-ECC and ECC RAM, set ECC to "disabled" in BIOS, and run all the modules as non-ECC.
So far, it seems to work fine. I am running MEMTEST86+v.1.70 against it.
But both the BIOS and MEMTEST86+ show that there is only 992MB of RAM. Usually, with a GB of RAM, the system shows close to 1,024MB available.
I understand that ECC has, for every 64 bits of memory, 8 bits of parity memory for a total of 72 bit -- or something similar to that description.
So I'm wondering, under any and all of these observations, why my system shows only 992MB available for two (2x256) 512MB kits including one set of ECC modules.
Any insights? comments? Answers? Thoughts on the matter? Responses will be much appreciated.
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