Anyone tried Dual Channel DDR with a DC?

[mordrid52]

I'm curious if dual channel DDR (nForce2 and Granite Bay) helps out any projects over having only single channel memory.

 

[Wiz]

I too would like to know.
I know that seti is memory bandwidth intensive, so it would stand to reason that more memory bandwidth = good for seti.
I intend on getting an nforce2 board for myself sometime so this would be a very good thing to know.

 

[Evadman]

I can try. I have a nforce board that is running on one channel now. Gimme a few days.

 

[m0ti]

I'd expect DF to do better as well, since it utilizes memory quite heavily.

 

[titanmiller]

From what I have heard, seti especially, realy runs fast with lots of memory bandwidth. I am planning on buying a nForce2 (probably nForce3 or 4 by the time I get the $).

 

[MoFunk]

I am also planning on an nforce board soon, and another stick of 512, so please let us know!

 

[Evadman]

I have only had it running for 2 days so far, I would like a bigger test amount. 3 or 4 more WU;s i will add another stick then see the averages between the 2.

 

[Wiz]

Evadman, which mobo you got there?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Wiz
Evadman, which mobo you got there?

I got it in FS/FT. I don't know Youa re going to make me look aren't you Hold on a sec so I can get a model #.

<edit>
ot os the MS-6353 nForce420.

 

[Wiz]

MS-6353 nForce420

Do the nforce based mobos have dual channel DDR? I thought only the nforce2 had that?
I have a couple nforce mobos here, but there's no mention of dual channel DDR.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Wiz
MS-6353 nForce420

Do the nforce based mobos have dual channel DDR? I thought only the nforce2 had that?
I have a couple nforce mobos here, but there's no mention of dual channel DDR.

I ws under the impression that the 420 nforce boards had dual channel and the 240's did not. *shrugs* I did not get a manual with the board, no easy answer there.

<edit>
I can tell you that I honestly bought it because it was a killer deal, not for dual DDR. I do know the whole selling point of the nForce was the onboard video = good and the dual channel DDR for some models.

 

[muttley]

The question seems to be up in the air.

From the standard tests (ie tomshardware etc) PC-2700 is an exact match of 333 mhz to the bus speed of 333 mhz (FSB) for the proceessor.
When the memory bus was increased to 400 mhz there was a slight 1 to 3 percent drop.

The testing said that as usual using cas 2 was like a 100 mhz difference slower of your processor.

Since it has been a while since I have overclocked. I don't know if the multiplier can be lowered to increase the FSB.

I am using the deluxe ASUS motherboard.

I would like to see test benches made for like DF and SETI where u just unzip the folder in its own directory and run the benchmark.

I'm running infineron memory pc-2700 with a 2600 (333) XP and it flies in DF. DF uses memory and 2 1800 mp's are at 130,000 when the 2600 XP hits 100,000.
As for SETI or a different program I don't know the results but the 2600 (333) is impressive.

muttley

 

[mechBgon]

I'm surprised no one noticed that RickD used an nForce2 system with dualDDR (Corsair XMS modules) for his #2-worldwide SETI benchmark: thread

Here's a rundown on the nForce family:

• nForce 200-series northbridges have one 64-bit memory controller
• nForce 400-series northbridges have two 64-bit memory controllers (yes, dualDDR on that MSI, Evadman)
• classic nForce northbridges ending with -20 have an integrated video core
• classic nForce northbridges ending with -15 do not have an integrated video core
• there are two nForce southbridges and they can be mixed and matched with the northbridges
• the deluxe MCP-T southbridge has onboard FireWire, USB 2.0, isynchronous nVidia 10/100 NIC and high-performance audio with Dolby 5.1 digital encoding, along with integrated IDE controllers. It's up to the board manufacturer to put the features to use or not. Boards with this variant will have a D on the end of the chipset name, such as nForce 220D
• the basic MCP southbridge lacks the FireWire and Dolby.
• the southbridge and northbridge are connected by a full-duplex Hypertransport link running at 400Mb/sec each way
• the excess bandwidth of the dualDDR memory is used for speculative pre-fetch by the northbridge as it attempts to guess what data the CPU will want next, and have it ready. In some situations it doesn't make much difference, but in some it makes a significant difference in the 10%-20% area.
• the excess bandwidth will also radically improve the performance of the onboard video, for those northbridges that have onboard video
• nForce2 has an improved northbridge with an integrated GeForce4MX core optional (just now arriving on market). It can run dualDDR mode with all three memory slots filled (identical modules preferably) and even with just a single module it is faster than its competitors, KT333 and KT400.
• the nForce2 with integrated graphics has inherent dual-VGA support, provided the manufacturer implements it.
• on nForce2, the PCI and AGP busses can be locked to proper speeds independently of the FSB, if the board maker implements this option. This means no out-of-spec IDE controllers or PCI bus no matter what FSB you pick.
• nForce2 lets you directly manipulate the multiplier of your Thoroughbred-core AthlonXP in the BIOS! For the 2100+ on up, reports are that you can lower it, while on the lower models you can raise it. The mobo maker must have this capability in their BIOS, the EPoX 8RDA+ is the weapon of choice so far.
• If a board is nVidia SoundStorm-certified, that means it has at least one 5.1 digital audio-out as well as analog audio-out jacks. Boards may be using the full-blown MCP-T southbridge and the nVidia onboard audio, but lack SoundStorm if they don't include a digital-out jack in the package (possibly available separately, as is the case with the EPoX 8RDA+). Some boards come with two digital-outs, one optical and one RCA, such as the A7N266-VM, a microATX nForce 220D board that I am very familiar with
• Very frequently-asked question: What's with the Realtek audio CODECs if the boards use the nVidia audio from the southbridge...? The CODEC serves as the physical layer that translates the nVidia audio processor's digital output to an analog wave form and gets it to the rear jacks (or the reverse, for input). If you use the digital-out then you bypass this.

I could probably ramble on and on. As usual, there have been teething pains with the boards and the chipset, and many discoveries learned by trial and error, but the knowledge level around here is going up The ability to pick your multiplier and ANY bus speed you like, without consequences to the AGP or PCI busses, makes this an OC dream come true. Pair it up with the Thoroughbred-B AthlonXP 2100+ and you should be able to hit 2.2GHz+ with good cooling and power. Some people are getting upwards of 2.3GHz-2.4GHz, like RickD's record-setting rig.

$104.50 at Mwave.com
SETI and other benchmarks at various mulit/FSB combos

 

[Evadman]

sounds like I got a even better deal then I thought. I got the board for $40.

Thanks for the info Mech!

 

[BigJ]

seems pretty fast with my Asus A7N8X Deluxe. 512mb of PC3500 @ 166mhz sync with my FSB for 2.158ghz (XP2100+ oc'ed). Getting times around 2:20 which is pretty decent.

 

[Wiz]

Evadman, cool - great deal man!

Now put matching sticks of DDR in there in the appropriate slots and you should have dual DDR

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: BigJ2078
seems pretty fast with my Asus A7N8X Deluxe. 512mb of PC3500 @ 166mhz sync with my FSB for 2.158ghz (XP2100+ oc'ed). Getting times around 2:20 which is pretty decent.

BigJ2078, is your CPU a Thoroughbred? If so, you should also have the option to drop your multiplier to 11.5 in the BIOS, then boost the RAM and FSB synchronously to at least 185MHz to fatten up your memory pipe even more! If it's a Palomino, you can always manually unlock the bridges if you want.

edit: if you do this, manually specify your AGP bus at 66MHz and this will also lock in your PCI bus at 33MHz as it should be.

 

[lane42]

Do the 8RDA and the 8RDA+ have the same features, except for the Raid.

 

[Shack70]

Im running the Asus Nforce2 board and It runs RC5 faster than my old ECS MB, but i dont think it is because of the memory. I still have PC2100 in it. I plan on getting some 400mhz corsair soon so I can do some OCing

 

[Reel]

mech or anyone else: is there a link to read more about Dual Channel DDR? If I understood correctly, the DDR trick was to use both the rising + falling of the clock cycles to effectively double the throughput. If so, how does Dual Channel change things?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: lane42
Do the 8RDA and the 8RDA+ have the same features, except for the Raid.

• The 8RDA+ adds nVidia's top-notch 5.1 audio (although if you want digital S/PDIF-out you have to buy a separate bracket/cable)
• The 8RDA+ adds an additional pair of USB 2.0 ports on a PCI blank
• The 8RDA+ adds Firewire
• Neither the 8RDA nor 8RDA+ feature RAID in either Serial ATA or conventional ATA versions

Originally posted by: ReelC00L
mech or anyone else: is there a link to read more about Dual Channel DDR? If I understood correctly, the DDR trick was to use both the rising + falling of the clock cycles to effectively double the throughput. If so, how does Dual Channel change things?

• The nVidia implementation of dual-DDR uses two separate 64-bit memory controllers. The northbridge basically load-balances memory I/O between the two.
• AnandTech's review of nForce2 boards versus KT333 and KT400, pages of benchmarks!
• When does the speculative prefetch cut loose? Check the blue numbers in the chart here!

This is in contrast to Intel's scheme with their E7205/Granite Bay chipset, which combines the two channels to make one 128-bit-wide datapath (plus ECC checking if you use ECC modules). More info: LostCircuits' review of Asus E7205 board

 

[Reel]

Thanks. It is far more efficient to ask you then to search on my own.

 

[mechBgon]

No problem, I have to let information out every so often anyway... otherwise my brain will explode! :Q

 

[lane42]

Thanks mech....

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
No problem, I have to let information out every so often anyway... otherwise my brain will explode! :Q

BWhahahahaha! We love ya guy!