Core 2 Duo & DDR1

[corfe83]

I just got a new Core 2 Duo processor (E6600 - 2.4 Ghz with 4MB L2 Cache). With it I got an ASRock motherboard (chipset: Via PT880) which allows me to use DDR or DDR2 memory, and right now I have some DDR400 RAM plugged in. This lets me do upgrade in phases from my old Barton system.

First of all, the motherboard claims to support Dual Channel, but always boots up with single channel (even if I set dual channel explicitly in the BIOS options). This is with two Corsair ValueRAM 512 MB sticks (both DDR400). My first question, does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get dual channel working? Dual channel worked fine on my old NForce2 motherboard with these same two RAM sticks, so I don't know why it isn't working on this motherboard. Could it just be a matter of forcing all the RAM timings to certain values?

My next question is, how much performance am I losing by running single-channel DDR400 RAM? Will dual channel help a lot, and will upgrading to DDR2 help even more in the future? Or is this not a big deal?

I'm mostly gaming on this machine - Supreme Commander, Half-Life Source Engine, Oblivion.

Thanks!

 

[bamacre]

Let's see, 400mhz FSB instead of 1066mhz FSB. I'd say you are likely to see a performance hit.

 

[corfe83]

I know there's some performance hit, I'm trying to figure out whether it's bad enough that I really should upgrade to DDR2 soon, or instead focus on upgrading my video card next (Geforce 6600GT AGP).

Also, if I could get my RAM working in dual channel mode, that would double my bandwidth - I think my CPU would see a decent performance gain, that would save me from buying a bunch of DDR2 RAM in the near future.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: corfe83
I know there's some performance hit, I'm trying to figure out whether it's bad enough that I really should upgrade to DDR2 soon, or instead focus on upgrading my video card next (Geforce 6600GT AGP).

Also, if I could get my RAM working in dual channel mode, that would double my bandwidth - I think my CPU would see a decent performance gain, that would save me from buying a bunch of DDR2 RAM in the near future.

Have you looked at DDR2 prices lately? 1GB modules of 667mhz for less than $50.

You could likely sell the DDR1 and buy DDR2 without losing any money.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: corfe83
I know there's some performance hit, I'm trying to figure out whether it's bad enough that I really should upgrade to DDR2 soon, or instead focus on upgrading my video card next (Geforce 6600GT AGP).

Also, if I could get my RAM working in dual channel mode, that would double my bandwidth - I think my CPU would see a decent performance gain, that would save me from buying a bunch of DDR2 RAM in the near future.

Have you looked at DDR2 prices lately? 1GB modules of 667mhz for less than $50.

You could likely sell the DDR1 and buy DDR2 without losing any money.

Qft. Check hot deals - there's a 2GB kit for $98 right now.

 

[zagood]

I'd focus more on the video card. From Anand's tests on the board:

"It became obvious to us during testing that a user's choice of memory on this particular platform is not going to make a huge difference in the performance of the system. The age old rule about utilizing the highest speed memory at the lowest possible latencies still holds true. This rule was especially evident in our synthetic benchmark testing, but results in our application and game testing told us another story.

"This story told us the choice of components like the CPU, motherboard, or graphics card is far more important to the overall performance of the system than our memory selection on this platform. While this is not surprising and certainly not unexpected, it just reinforces the fact that at this price point you can certainly extend the life of your existing DDR memory.

"In the future you can worry about major improvements such as an upgraded video card or motherboard and then add higher performing DDR2 memory that will take advantage of these additions. If you have a very limited budget and want to move to the Intel Core 2 Duo processor now, then rest assured that your DDR-400 memory is more than capable for a system like the one tested today."

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810&p=1

As far as dual channel goes, hard to tell you. Try stuff like switching the slots where they're going, flash the BIOS, check the ram itself to see that they're both single/double sided, etc.

-z