Who needs dual-channel DDR anyway

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by The_OGS, Jul 9, 2004.

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  1. The_OGS

    The_OGS Active member

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    Well I think [bold]I[/bold] do ;-)
    I upgraded my main rig to the ABit AN7 mobo.
    I was gonna get Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe, but the ABit had the dual optical S/PDIF input/output that I wanted.
    My first ABit mobo actually (it seems really nice) but they don't say much about the dual-channel memory.
    I want to fire it up with two 512MB sticks! I need a gig anyway - who doesn't?
    I have one stick of 512 that I run synchronously at 166/333 (PC2700 speed) with aggressive timings, but I'm never gonna match it. It is generic.
    What should I buy and is this gonna be expensive?
    _X_X_X_X_X_[small]ABIT AN7 nForce™2 Ultra 400
    XP2500+ Barton 512MB PC3200[/small]
     
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2004
    The_OGS, Jul 9, 2004
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  2. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Well if you want to run DualChannel then you're gonna have to get a similar 512MB stick.
     
    Praetor, Jul 9, 2004
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  3. fcuklad

    fcuklad Member

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    i have recently built my mate a amd 64 machine duel channel ram 512 x 2 and they HAVE note HAVE to be the same make / same speed e.t.c so if ur going to but duel channel ram make sure u get 2 sticks the same speed and same make otherwise



    XXXXXXXXXXXX they wont work XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
     
    fcuklad, Jul 12, 2004
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  4. agent-k

    agent-k Regular member

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    I was told by the owner of the local computer store that dual channel memory works great on a pentium machine but every Athlon machine that they have tried it on it has run slower.
    Seems a bit strange to me but he said they run benchmark tests on every machine that they build and the dual channel athlons always score lower than the non dual.
     
    agent-k, Jul 12, 2004
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  5. Doofy

    Doofy Regular member

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    i have dual channel running on my abit nf7-s and they are not a matched pair runs fine in dual channel, i bought then so far apart and both from different manufacturers been running fine for 3 months
     
    Doofy, Jul 12, 2004
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  6. The_OGS

    The_OGS Active member

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    Check it out:
    Corsair 1Gb PC/3200 Xtreme Low Latency Series
    (2 x 512Mb) Timings: 2-2-2-5
    Sweeeeet
    Like candy, but - $479!
    (About $360 US bucks)
    I can try to match my 512, it should work. I can get another stick for $119 canadian, but it's all a big gamble.
    If it won't work or gets unstable, I'll be pissed off.
    But I could set them both manually so, it wouldn't matter if their SPDs said different things, right? Nice, stable, identical settings that both can run easily. This should work.
    But I still would love a pair of those Corsairs.
    Might sell the dog & cat.
     
    The_OGS, Jul 12, 2004
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  7. The_OGS

    The_OGS Active member

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    Lookit that, just missed your posts.
    Good to hear Doofy that it works, thanks.
    I believe it you know, I've always resisted this dual-channel stuff, being a VIA chipset guy, and it seems to me it would payoff only at 200Mhz(400DDR) FSB and with aggressive timings.
    I do want to try my Barton at 200 FSB and see if I can get it to come up 3200+ (that's a different thread) but I figure good memory could be a key in making it OC.
     
    The_OGS, Jul 12, 2004
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  8. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    LMAO thats because the Pentium systems and mobos cost more. heehee


    Is he taking "creative advantage" of AMD's naming conventions?

    Something I think I posted somewhere else but not here.... there are two approaches to memory performance.... either (a) go for high clock speeds or (b) go for low-timings. The high clock speeds favor burst mode transfers while low latencies favor accesstime. For 90% of people, a high clock speed is the better route to go as they will encounter cases where burst mode is more performance enhancing than access times
     
    Praetor, Jul 12, 2004
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  9. agent-k

    agent-k Regular member

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    Well apparently, if they run benchmark tests on two identically built Athlons, one with dual and the other without, the non dual scores highest.
    But with Pentiums it's the other way around.
     
    agent-k, Jul 12, 2004
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  10. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Damn i didnt like benchmarks enough as it is but that seriously takes the cake! I did some testing with my system before i made the switch to dual channel and although the performance jump wasnt 100% and more like 40% (which is good considering actual and theoretical never match up). Damn i knew benchmarks were phooey but im kinda dissapointed at that one! :(

    Which bench did they run? Please dont say something like 3DMark ....
    _X_X_X_X_X_[small]ASUS A7N8X-X, XP2500+ OC'd to XP3200+
    Samsung 1024MB, PC2700 OC'd to PC3200
    480GB [3x160GB, 7200, 8MB]
    EVGA, GeForce4 Ti4600 128MB

    Rules and Policies: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2487[/small]
     
    Last edited: Jul 12, 2004
    Praetor, Jul 12, 2004
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  11. agent-k

    agent-k Regular member

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    I think it might be.
    www.mpcomputers.net
     
    agent-k, Jul 12, 2004
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  12. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Did a quick look, couldnt find anything will look more indepth later.
     
    Praetor, Jul 13, 2004
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  13. kinza

    kinza Regular member

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    with dual channel ram do i just need two identical sticks or do i have to get a dual channel kit? does it matter if i get oem or retail?
     
    kinza, Apr 3, 2005
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  14. agent-k

    agent-k Regular member

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    2 identical sticks will do it.

    I bought one stick of 512mb 400DDr Adata 2.5cl ram and about 6 months later I bought an identical one and my motherboard shows it as dual channel when it boots up.

    Thats all a dual channel kit is.
     
    agent-k, Apr 3, 2005
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  15. pro`noob

    pro`noob Regular member

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    believe it or not i placed in my board 1x pc3200 and 1x pc2700 both of different brands and they have been running fine in dual channel mode for months at 333 mhz

    strange because i always thought they had to be exact modules
     
    pro`noob, Apr 3, 2005
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  16. kinza

    kinza Regular member

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    there are no cables with memory are there, so it wouldn't matter if i got OEM?
     
    kinza, Apr 3, 2005
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  17. pro`noob

    pro`noob Regular member

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    oem is fine. i always buy oem, otherwise your just paying for packaging that goes straight in the bin.
     
    pro`noob, Apr 3, 2005
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  18. agent-k

    agent-k Regular member

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    yeah, poor'nob is right, go for the OEM.
    It's cheaper.
     
    agent-k, Apr 3, 2005
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  19. kinza

    kinza Regular member

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    great, thanks:)
     
    kinza, Apr 4, 2005
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  20. rgfx

    rgfx Member

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    I have an asus A7N8X-E deluxe mboard with a barton3200, 3x512 pc3200 ddr400 Crucial ram, 430w psu & winXP sp2
    Any of the dimms work in any slot okay on their own, and memTest says they're all fine, but if I put any combo of two or three in any slot configuration, the system becomes unstable, and memTest reports errors straight away. I have had the blu screen of death about 3 times so far since installing this ram, something I had NEVER seen in the year I've had the pc.
    I know it seems weird, but my mboard does seem to allow the ram to work in dual channel mode with 3 dimms in it, and the manual says its okay.
    The problem is intermittant and seems random, I cannot cause the pc to crash by running several apps and large files.
    At the moment its running with all 3 dimms in, but its a lot slower running the startup apps than just having the original 512.
    Do I need to to adjust voltages or timings or something in the bios?
     
    rgfx, Apr 9, 2005
    #20
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