compatability question

[bmaltz]

I have an ASUS mobo P4P800 Deluxe with TWINX512-3200C2 DIMMS. I want to add two TWINX1024-3500LLPRO DIMMS. If I do this, will I cause any compatability or performance problems and what, if any, performance issues might I experience?

 

What BIOS settings should I consider if I want to SLIGHTLY overclock the RAM (with this mix of -3200 and -3500 DIMMS)?

 

thanks,

[RJLeong65]

I have an ASUS mobo P4P800 Deluxe with TWINX512-3200C2 DIMMS. I want to add two TWINX1024-3500LLPRO DIMMS. If I do this, will I cause any compatability or performance problems and what, if any, performance issues might I experience?

 

What BIOS settings should I consider if I want to SLIGHTLY overclock the RAM (with this mix of -3200 and -3500 DIMMS)?

 

thanks,

 

You will likely have compatibility problems when mixing the two. Your 3200C2 sticks may not overclock well at all. And adding the 3500LL sticks will very well drop your memory clockspeed to PC2700 or even PC2100 speed due to the limitations of the i865's memory controller - and may not run stably at all even at the normal PC3200 speed.

[bmaltz]

OK, is there an issue with having 4 DIMMS installed?

 

Basically, I need more than the 1GB of RAM I currently have with my TWINX512-3200C2 DIMMS (4 x 256MB DIMMS). If I replaced ALL four of these 256MB DIMMS with two sets of TWINX1024-3500LLPRO DIMMS (i.e., 4 x 512MB DIMMS), would that work OK to get to 2GB of RAM or would I still see a slow-down of my memory speed?

 

Thanks

[RJLeong65]

OK, is there an issue with having 4 DIMMS installed?

 

Basically, I need more than the 1GB of RAM I currently have with my TWINX512-3200C2 DIMMS (4 x 256MB DIMMS). If I replaced ALL four of these 256MB DIMMS with two sets of TWINX1024-3500LLPRO DIMMS (i.e., 4 x 512MB DIMMS), would that work OK to get to 2GB of RAM or would I still see a slow-down of my memory speed?

 

Thanks

 

Even if you use two identically matched TWINX1024-3500LL kits, you may still see a slowdown of your memory's speed with all four DIMM slots filled. This is because DDR memory controllers as a rule work best with only 4 banks of memory. But all 512MB and larger XMS series modules are double-sided; using 4 512MB or larger sticks of XMS memory would result in a whopping 8 banks of memory -- too many for any DDR memory controller to handle at the modules' rated speed and timings.

 

As a result, the best choice for 2GB of total memory would be to go with one TWINX2048-3500LL(PRO) kit (which will fill only two of the four DIMM slots, leaving the other two DIMM slots empty) -- and update your motherboard's BIOS to the latest version.