Too much ram?

fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
edited November 2003 in Hardware
I plan on using 3 sticks of 256 corsair http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?description=20-145-415 , on an nf7-s. Will using all 3 ram slots decrease performance because I've heard of instances where using all the ram slots actually decreases the performance of the ram.

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    It's possible, although I don't have any decrease in stability or memory bandwidth with all three DIMM channels populated on my nf7-s.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited November 2003
    My understanding is that to run at 400MHz you are limited to using two sticks.
    ram.jpg 42.2K
  • fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
    edited November 2003
    So would I be better off using 3 sticks of 333 over 2 sticks 400?
  • fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
    edited November 2003
    And thrax, are you using 400 or above?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I'm using a 512 stick of corsair 3500 and two sticks of corsair 3200 at 230MHz. That's all three slots. :D

    And no, you would not be better using DDR333.
  • fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
    edited November 2003
    I thought that you were not supposed to mix ram of different speeds, as it would slow down the fastest of the ram
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    No.

    That's only true if you're running SPD timings and frequencies, THEN the default programming of the slowest memory module would be dominant.

    But I'm not. All three sticks are at 230MHz, 2/2/2 timings, 2.9v.
  • fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
    edited November 2003
    So in conclusion, it would be ok to use 3 sticks?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Yes, as I originally stated.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited November 2003
    yes
  • fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
    edited November 2003
    Koo. Thanks :)
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited November 2003
    I have no personal experience doing this, so obviously I'll bow to the expertise of those who do.

    So's I know - why do the specs read the way they do in the pic I submitted above?

    Curious... :)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Not quite sure.

    Doesn't seem to matter though. :scratch:
  • fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
    edited November 2003
    It's a conspiracy :)
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited November 2003
    Because technically the nForce2 only supports DDR400 with 2 sticks. Anything more than 4 banks is not guaranteed to be stable @ ddr400.
  • fudgamfudgam Upstate New York
    edited November 2003
    So 3 sticks wouldnt be bad. But if its not guaranteed to be stable, does that mean that 3 sticks wouldnt be better than 2?
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited November 2003
    No. All it means is that neither ABIT nor nVidia have been able to get EVERY nForce2 chip they ship to run happily with 6 banks of ram at DDR400. The only way to definitively answer the question of whether it'll be "better" or not is to try it and see.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited November 2003
    From what I've been given to understand, when you run 3 sticks in an nforce2 based system it forces it into "virtual single channel mode" and thereby lowers the bandwidth of the ram...I'd say that I'd set it up with 2 sticks in what Abit shows as dual channel mode and run sandra mem test then add the third stick and see if there's no impact on the bandwidth.
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