3 RAMs and NFORCE2

R!tman · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2004 11:51 pm Post subject: 3 RAMs and NFORCE2

Hi all,

tomorrow I am upgrading my NFORCE2 motherboard from 2x256MB to 2x512MB RAM. Now my question:

Should I put one of the 256MB RAMs into the third free RAM slot on the board?

I heard that NFORCE2 boards are fast because of two RAMs working together very tight and that the third RAM could slow the whole system down. If so, I would "only" use the 2x512MB. If not, I would rather use one of the 256MB RAMs too.
The new 2x512MB RAMS are Kingston HyperX and the 2x256MB are just some Apacer RAMs.

So what should I do to have maximum performance for
a) games?
b) normal applications?
c) compiling?

Thanks!

taskara · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 3:49 am Post subject:

leave the 3rd stick out.

you need TWO sticks in to enable dual ddr, and if you put in 3 it reverts to standard.

you can check with memtest - it will tell you the speed of your ram, which will change with different configurations
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secondshadow · Guru Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Posts: 362

Also, to add to what taskara said, some motherboards do not support actually filling up all 3 if the RAM's speed is high enough. Mine only supports using 2 of the three at DDR400, which is what I run at, though this is a VIA K8T800 board.

cram · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 4:34 am Post subject:

R!tman · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 11:47 am Post subject:

I would also say that the third RAM slows the system down, but the "xtremesystems thread" says something else. It is based on an NVIDIA nForce2 article. So, it seems that a third RAM does not slow the others down.
I will check both with memtest and post again.
Thank you all for posting.

Tommm · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 1:18 pm Post subject:

as far as i know - gain in performace with dual channel enabled is minimal ( gain can be significant - 40-70% - only on systems with graphic card integrated on motherboard), so if you need more memory, you could use third slot

3 dimms can work with dual-channel enabled, although it is somewhat limited with mentioned above capability of mb to work with 3 dimms @ 200Mhz DDR. for example - you can put 2x256MB into 1st memory bank (2 slots) and 1x512MB into 2nd bank, and you'll be running 1GB dual-channel, there is also possibility to use only part of memory working dual-channel -> 1st bank: 512+256; 2nd bank: 512 -> if it is properly done, you'll be running 1GB DC + 256MB SingleC

for more information -> nforcershq.com
(sorry for my english :wink:

)

R!tman · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 2:07 pm Post subject:

@Tommm

Thanks for the post. I think I will try to get 1GB running dual-channel and the other 256MB in single channel mode. I do not have an idea how to do that but i will search the internet. Maybe just some BIOS stuff.
Thanks again.

Tommm · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 2:27 pm Post subject:

but keep in mind, that there's always a risk (it's a low risk, but you have to be aware of its existence), that mixing different types of dimms can result in instability, etc. :!:

(you should consider if extra 256MB is worth taking that risk)

ps. here you can find a comparison between single & dual channel (although the tests were run on a windows machine, you will get a picture of what you can gain/lose)

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/nforce2-1vs2channels/