What am I missing here? -Complex Issuse-

[Tab]

I am trying to see if I can add another 512MB PC2700 Stick from my AMD XP Computer and see if this will improve my performence in Battlefield 2.

Current Config -

AMD 64 1.8Ghz
DFI Lan Party Ultra-D
2x512MB Dual Channel Config
X800 XL

What my plan was orginally was that the system would automatically downclock itself to the speed of my 512MB PC2700 DIM, I'd try to overvolt that and try to get to atleast PC3200 or just leave it as is.

When I put the stick in, I get high pitched beeps... Shouldn't my motherboard automatically downclock the HyperTransport to the lowest speed of my memory? Which would be 333Mhz in this case.

Assuming I bought 2 more 512MB Sticks, is that a good idea? Wouldn't I lose my dual channel capablity?

 

[Tab]

C'mon someone must know the answer to my problem!

 

[ryanv12]

I don't think you can run 3 sticks in that motherboard, it has to be 2 or 4. I may be wrong though.

 

[coomar]

the dfi board is picky with ram, nf2 sometimes allowed you to use unbalanced dualchannel (1gig in one channel, 512 in the other), i don't know if nf4 will allow you to

 

[CheesePoofs]

what bios are you using? What is each stick of ram (manufacturer and model)?

 

[Waylay00]

I've been wondering this, but why is the DFI NF4 series more picky about RAM than others?

 

[Tab]

It's Crucial Memory... Lastest BIOS

 

[CheesePoofs]

Latest official bios (3/10)? If so, you might want to consider trying a beta bios, like the 5/10 one.

Another thing to try would be to go into the bios with just the one stick of ram and change the ram divider to its lowest setting. Then try running two sticks again. If that works, keep bumping up the divider until it freaks out on you.

Buying two more sticks (for a total of 4 sticks) would allow you to run dual channel, but it would by default force you to run the ram at 333mhz 2T timings. You can normally force it to run 400mhz, but you're still stuck with 2T.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

From the FAQ on DFI's website:

30002498 Why NF4 series boards fail to boot with three memories? 2005/01/27
Answer :
There is an integrated memory controller in AMD 64-bit Socket 939 series CPU, supporting dual channel. The integrated memory controller will not differentiate from dual or non-dual inaccurately, the computer might not be booted smoothly. Even if the computer can be booted, the total capacity of memory is still detected as two memories combined instead of three or just detected with incorrect memory size. Thus, we do not suggest using three memories on NF4 series boards.

 

[imported_Technomancer]

It's generally a bad idea to add non-dual channel memory to a board that has dual channel memory.

 

[CheesePoofs]

Originally posted by: Technomancer
It's generally a bad idea to add non-dual channel memory to a board that has dual channel memory.

Um .... dual channel has nothing to do with the ram. ANy ram can run dual channel. All dual channel means is that there are two links (channels) going from the memory to the memory controller.

 

[dnuggett]

You way nto even need the added RAM. Go to your Task Mananger and click on the performance tag. Look at commit charge, that is the TOTAL memory used including the pagefile.

You will see Total = amount of memory being used.
Limit = the max your system has including the pagefile.
Peak = the highest usage point of your session.

Load up BF2 and games away as you would normally with the Task Manager up and running. I'd go to some large ranked maps and make sure your video settings are where you want them. Play a session as you normally would. Then after exiting BF2 look at the Task Mannager. Since you have 1 GB if the Peak hit above 1024000 you were into your pagefile. If it didn't a RAM increase is not necessary for your system. I was going to go to 2GB (still may) but it's not necessary for me to... my peak usage was 784540 I still have some headroom.