MSI K8N Neo4 Compatibility

[hcdunk]

I've read some on this subject, but still havn't gotten a definitive answer. I have a MSI K8N Neo4 motherboard (NF4 ultra, socket 939, 3500+ Winchester) and currently I have Corsair TWINX1024-3200XLPT running in banks 1 and 2 at 2-2-2-5-T1 (4 banks on the board) and I want to upgrade to 2 GB of RAM. I have read that if I added another pair in banks 3 and 4 I would have to go down to single channel 333 Mhz, and I have also read that I may have to go up to T2 to get them to work, neither of which is acceptible. My question is this: Do I need to get 2x1GB sticks in order to keep similar latencies and speeds on my RAM, and is there a chance in the future that they could fix this problem (performance sacrifices for using all 4 slots) with a bios update? Thanks!

[Wired]

BIOS update won't fix it, as it's a DESIGN limitation in your memory controller. It would run @ DUAL CHANNEL 333 Mhz, 2T timings w/ 4 sticks, not single channel.

 

Only way to get around this limitation (partially at least) is to get an Athlon64 Venice core, Rev E or later. That'll run 4 matching sticks @ 400 Mhz, but still at 2T.

[hcdunk]

Thanks for your help! That makes my decision very easy (buy new RAM.)

[RAManiac]

BIOS update won't fix it, as it's a DESIGN limitation in your memory controller. It would run @ DUAL CHANNEL 333 Mhz, 2T timings w/ 4 sticks, not single channel.

 

Only way to get around this limitation (partially at least) is to get an Athlon64 Venice core, Rev E or later. That'll run 4 matching sticks @ 400 Mhz, but still at 2T.

 

wired:

 

How about X2 cores? Are those ones capable of running 4 sticks @ 400 MHz? Or does it have to be a dual core Opteron (eg. 165, 170, etc.)? AFAIK, X2's and Opteron's are cut from the same die, but tested differently -- is that correct?

 

R.

[RAM GUY]

All of the X2 cores suggest DDR333 with more than two double sided modules installed.