System Stability W/S754 A64, K8T800, & 3 DDR400 DS DIMMs?

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
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To cut a long story short, I picked up one of Kingston's new 1GB DDR400 ValueRAM sticks to buff up my current setup, intending to go from 1GB(2x512MB Geil Value series, DDR400) to 1.5GB(1 Geil + Kingston). Now officially, my current setup composed of a S754 A64 3400+ and Abit KV8(K8T800) isn't supposed to be able to support all 3 DIMM slots filled with double-sided DIMMs at DDR400 speeds(this is listed in the mobo manual, but since the memory controller is on the A64, the limitation is probably because of the CPU), but I decided to try it on a lark, and none the less I have it running right now doing exactly that(i.e. 3 DIMMs, 2GB, DDR400), after it has already completed 2 passes of MemTest86.

My question then is this: is this normal? My understanding was that this was a fairly solid rule that I shouldn't be able to break. I'm certainly not going to complain about being able to get away with it, but I'm more curious about if this means there's more hope for S754 setups with 3 DIMMs than what's officially listed. I still need to let MemTest86 and Prime95 get some overnight hours in to make sure everything's kosher, but has anyone had any past experience trying to do something like this? I'm interested in hearing if this is some sort of fluke or not.

System specs:

Athlon64 3400+ S754(Newcastle, DH7-CG)
Abit KV8(K8T800 chipset)
1x Kingston ValueRAM 1GB KVR400/1GR
2x Geil Value Series 512MB DDR400
(RAM timings currently at a relaxed 3-3-3-7)
 

Budman

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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it can be done,you're proof of that. ;)

It probably went from 1T to 2T by filling all 3 slots but that's not biggie anyways.

Congrads on 1.5gigs.
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
167
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Originally posted by: Budman
it can be done,you're proof of that. ;)

It probably went from 1T to 2T by filling all 3 slots but that's not biggie anyways.

Congrads on 1.5gigs.
2GB, not 1.5GB; that's why I'm so happy.:D
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
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Oh, and you were right on the command timings, it did default to 2T. I dropped it back to 1T though and it survived a full night of MemTest, so I'm fairly impressed.