mixing DDR RAM?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

I've an Epox 8RDA3+ mobo, which has 3 DDR slots, one blue on one
channel, and one gray and one blue on another channel.
I have one 512MB DDR400 stick in there at the moment. But the board is
set to 166 MHz, so it's only really acting like DDR333 (or so I gather.)

I have a spare stick of 256MB DDR333 RAM. Since the board's already
running at 333, would it be a bad thing to add the 256MB stick?

Would having an additional 256MB make any difference?

Thanks for any opinions!
Liam

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"LRW" <druid@NOSPAHMcelticbear.com> wrote in message
news:rOsYc.82166$Fg5.2109@attbi_s53...
> I've an Epox 8RDA3+ mobo, which has 3 DDR slots, one blue on one
> channel, and one gray and one blue on another channel.
> I have one 512MB DDR400 stick in there at the moment. But the board is
> set to 166 MHz, so it's only really acting like DDR333 (or so I gather.)
>
> I have a spare stick of 256MB DDR333 RAM. Since the board's already
> running at 333, would it be a bad thing to add the 256MB stick?
>
> Would having an additional 256MB make any difference?
>
> Thanks for any opinions!
> Liam

as long as you're careful with your fingers, or use an earth strap, you'll
do no harm in trying. If you get symptoms of a memory mismatch then just
take it out again. The performance gain will partly depend on your OS and
the quality of the motherboard. You should notice an increase in performance
if you motherboard is one of those that copes well with mismatched RAM. Some
do, some don't

B

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 22:30:47 GMT, LRW
<druid@NOSPAHMcelticbear.com> wrote:

>I've an Epox 8RDA3+ mobo, which has 3 DDR slots, one blue on one
>channel, and one gray and one blue on another channel.
>I have one 512MB DDR400 stick in there at the moment. But the board is
>set to 166 MHz, so it's only really acting like DDR333 (or so I gather.)
>
>I have a spare stick of 256MB DDR333 RAM. Since the board's already
>running at 333, would it be a bad thing to add the 256MB stick?
>
>Would having an additional 256MB make any difference?
>
>Thanks for any opinions!
>Liam

Since the board doesn't have integrated video, the benefit of
running in dual-channel mode would typically be only 2-4%, if
that. However you might see a performance benefit IF your
particular use of system, uses more than 512MB of memory, or at
least comes close enough that additional memory will be used as a
cache for files. In general the upgrade would help an aggressive
user, heavy multitasker or gamer... but you can use Task Manager
in Win2K/XP to check peak memory usage, and add a few dozen MB
onto that for additional caching.

Since you have the 2nd module already you ought to go ahead and
use it. Try using dual channel mode, test memory for errors as
mentioned below and if it's not stable, try rearrangling modules
so board is running in only single-channel mode (or change bios
settings to relax, choose slower memory timings [higher
numbers]).

Your system, running on 333 FSB, should indeed have memory bus @
333 (166MHz) also for optimal efficiency. This will allow use of
the PC2700 memory but only you can test it to confirm stability
with memory changes. I suggest running http://www.memtest86.com
for several hours PRIOR to ever booting the operating system, to
avoid potential file corruption if the system would have memory
errors.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"brushes" <brushes@badgers.com> said:

> If you get symptoms of a memory mismatch then just
> take it out again.


what are those symptoms?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

kony wrote:

>
> Your system, running on 333 FSB, should indeed have memory bus @
> 333 (166MHz) also for optimal efficiency. This will allow use of
> the PC2700 memory but only you can test it to confirm stability
> with memory changes. I suggest running http://www.memtest86.com
> for several hours PRIOR to ever booting the operating system, to
> avoid potential file corruption if the system would have memory
> errors.

Thanks for the reply and advice!
Liam