I'm running an Asus A7N8X 2.0 Deluxe (BIOS Rev 1003). I have slots 1 and 3 populated with a mathced pair of 256meg Corsair PC2700 DIMM's.

My question is: What happens if I populate all 3 slots? Does it still run in dual channel mode?

I'm considering buying another 512meg stick of the same Corsair RAM for the empty slot. Would that be a good idea, or no? Any thoughts?
Thanks alot!
SMOLT

Yes, it will still run in Dual channel mode.

Not a bad idea. Put the 512MB stick in the offset memory slot and the two 256MB sticks in the two remaining slots (i.e. the ones that are close together).


<b><font color=blue>I agree with that solution ... because it is a logical one.</font color=blue></b>

Thank you much Prof! That's just what I wanted to hear!

That's what I thought. How does it utilize the RAM though? Does it split up the third stick between the other two channels, or divide it up some other way? Just curious.

<A HREF="http://www.rebturtle.web.aplus.net" target="_new">rebturtle</A>
<A HREF="http://www.rebturtle.web.aplus.net/turtletech.htm" target="_new">My System</A>

Whether there are two or three sticks, the memory on the 1st channel is dealt with as one complete density and the memory on the 2nd channel is dealt with as one complete density. So, in the above case, the memory controller that is responsible for the 512MB module sees a 512MB density and the memory controller that is responsible for the two 256MB modules sees a 512MB density. That is, it doesn't look at it in terms of sticks. The amount that can be accessed in Dual DDR mode is the lowest density among the two channels times two. So, in the above case, the lowest density among the two channels is 512MB. Therefore, the amount that can be accessed in Dual DDR mode is 512MBx2 = 1024MB. In other words, what you're trying to do is balance the amount of memory across the two channels so that all the memory is accessed in Dual DDR mode. If not, some of the memory will be accessed in Dual DDR mode and some of it will be accessed in normal mode.

<b><font color=blue>I agree with that solution ... because it is a logical one.</font color=blue></b>

Aha! That makes much more sense. I had to read it about three times first ( I have a mind like a steel trap - nothing gets in! ), but that's very interesting. Thanks for the thorough explination.

<A HREF="http://www.rebturtle.web.aplus.net" target="_new">rebturtle</A>
<A HREF="http://www.rebturtle.web.aplus.net/turtletech.htm" target="_new">My System</A>

Interesting read, just one question though:-

To use dual channel mode on that board with 2 modules say, slots 1&3 or 2&3 must be used. Using slots 1&2 don't run in dual memory mode (slot 1 being the offset one).

Therefore I'd have thought slots 1&2 use one memory controller while slot 3 uses the other.

So to balance the memory load between the controllers would the 512meg stick need to go into slot 3 whle 1&2 used the 256meg sticks?

<b>Vorsprung durch Dontwerk</b>.....<i>as they say at VIA</i>

Correct. That is optimum configuration.

<b><font color=blue>I agree with that solution ... because it is a logical one.</font color=blue></b>

Thank you all very much! You've already answered all of the questions that I came back to ask!