Problems with filling up all 4 ram slots on MOBO's?

[teutonicknight]

I'm about to purchase a ASUS "A8V Deluxe" with 1 GB of ram (2x512), with plans to expand to 2 GB (4x512) in about 4 months; I do alot of video editing/composting and plan to play with HDV this summer.

I heard somewhere though that motherboards have problems when you fill in all 4 slots. Is this true?

(BTW: I plan to overclock--purchasing a 90nm winchester--the AMD 3000+)

 

[ts3433]

If all four DIMM slots are filled, you'll default to DDR333.

 

[bendixG15]

Why don't you go to Asus site and get specific info about the motherboard u want to buy ???

It may take 10 minutes but at least you know its correct.

 

[Regs]

Yes there are instability issues that could occur. This has been going on for years. They mislead a lot of customers by what the state in the specifications. The problem is every chipset manufacturer is out for the performance crown. With all the fans and heat sink mounts - and all the extra amps that travel through the tightly packed nested network of silicon on the motherboard, it creates interference. So it's pot luck if you manage to get all 4 DIMMs at stock latencies and speeds to perform stable.

You have 3 solutions.

1.Get Registered Ram (ECC) which requires a motherboard to run ECC RAM
2.Simply get 1024MB DIMMs
3. Loosen latency timings on all RAM modules. (Not Recommended)

 

[AwesomeJay]

Originally posted by: Regs
Yes there are instability issues that could occur. This has been going on for years. They mislead a lot of customers by what the state in the specifications. The problem is every chipset manufacturer is out for the performance crown. With all the fans and heat sink mounts - and all the extra amps that travel through the tightly packed nested network of silicon on the motherboard, it creates interference. So it's pot luck if you manage to get all 4 DIMMs at stock latencies and speeds to perform stable.

You have 3 solutions.

1.Get Registered Ram (ECC) which requires a motherboard to run ECC RAM
2.Simply get 1024MB DIMMs
3. Loosen latency timings on all RAM modules. (Not Recommended)

according to the asus website if you populate all 4 dimms with 1GB sticks the system will see just over 3GB of memory due to southbridge resource allocation

 

[Zepper]

It will default to 166/333 but you can go into BIOS setup and change it back to 200/400. It's not like the old days of single-channel DDR when two modules would run full speed, add a third and you'd have to clock down, add a fourth (most Socket-A mobos didn't even have 4 sockets) and you would probably have to use registered memory (which, in itself, is a bit slower than normal, un-buffered modules and quite expensive). And I only know of one recent socket-A design that could do that - Tyan S2495AN/ANRS... With dual-channel DDR on AMD 65 mobos, it's a new ball game. The A8V Deluxe is supposed to be able to handle 4 modules at 400 per Asus' FAQ pages.
.bh.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: AwesomeJay

Originally posted by: Regs
Yes there are instability issues that could occur. This has been going on for years. They mislead a lot of customers by what the state in the specifications. The problem is every chipset manufacturer is out for the performance crown. With all the fans and heat sink mounts - and all the extra amps that travel through the tightly packed nested network of silicon on the motherboard, it creates interference. So it's pot luck if you manage to get all 4 DIMMs at stock latencies and speeds to perform stable.

You have 3 solutions.

1.Get Registered Ram (ECC) which requires a motherboard to run ECC RAM
2.Simply get 1024MB DIMMs
3. Loosen latency timings on all RAM modules. (Not Recommended)

according to the asus website if you populate all 4 dimms with 1GB sticks the system will see just over 3GB of memory due to southbridge resource allocation

I thought he only needed 2 gigs? 2 slots x 1024 = 2 Gigs?

 

[Mattax]

I plan on buying the ASUS AV8 Deluxe as well.

So, if the fourth RAM slot is not good to use, I will go with three 1GB RAM chips. What is the best RAM to use? Some say OCZ, CORSAIR and MUSHKIN. After researching these three chips, there is variation to all of them in the 512MB and 1GB range. What is the difference? Is one better than the other?

Example OCZ


OCZ Performance Series 184-Pin 1GB DDR PC-3200 - Retail

OCZ Enhanced Latency Series 184 Pin 512MB ECC Registered DDR PC-3200

OCZ Enhanced Latency Series Platinum Edition 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail

OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 184-Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail

 

[teutonicknight]

Thanks for the help.

Originally posted by: Mattax
I plan on buying the ASUS AV8 Deluxe as well.

So, if the fourth RAM slot is not good to use, I will go with three 1GB RAM chips. What is the best RAM to use? Some say OCZ, CORSAIR and MUSHKIN. After researching these three chips, there is variation to all of them in the 512MB and 1GB range. What is the difference? Is one better than the other?

Example OCZ


OCZ Performance Series 184-Pin 1GB DDR PC-3200 - Retail

OCZ Enhanced Latency Series 184 Pin 512MB ECC Registered DDR PC-3200

OCZ Enhanced Latency Series Platinum Edition 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail

OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 184-Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail

Don't you lose dual channel when you have an uneven number of ram chips?

 

[shadow369]

Yep, definately don't give up your dual-channel. Go with 2-512Mb dimm's now and then 2 more later if you feel you need it. I believe 2 512MB's are cheaper than 1- 1G too. Your looking too much into the Model Names of the tyypes of memory. Obviously one is ECC and you don't need that unless you MB supports it. The others probably have more agressive timmings per model variation. Timmings are most of the meat and what to look at.