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Adding two more Memory banks to dual channel system

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Memory - Adding two more Memory banks to dual channel system

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jacobvz   08-07-2006 at 11:01:48 AM

I have an asus mobo ASUS A8N-SLI,Nforce4 Ultra with 2 GEIL VALUE ram 512 memory banks in it (2,5). I want to add two more 1GB memory banks in it while still working dual channel.
Can I add just two other memory banks as long as the 2 new ones are identical or shoudl they be same size and speed as old ones?

I was told that I can add 2 1GB banks as long as they were the same speed as the 2 original ones and both new ones were exactly same.

Thx

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PaCanc   08-07-2006 at 01:28:43 PM
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Yes, you can add another pair of RAM modules. It will work in dual channel.
Just have the 2 512MB modules paired in dual channel mode, and the 2 1GB paired on the other channel. (watch for the color of the RAM sockets).

If they are all the same speed (say 400MHz DDR), they'll all work at that speed. Otherwise, they'll work at the speed of the slowest module. (set it to AUTO in BIOS, or manualy set the speed to match the slowest module).

Also, when 4 DDR modules are used you might want to set the Command Rate to 2T instead of 1T if it doesn't work with the latter. (this is also done in BIOS settings).

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jacobvz   08-07-2006 at 01:48:27 PM
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This is confirmation of what I was told, though the vendor told me I also have to watch for the cl as well. Current memory is 2,5 so new memory should be the same.

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PaCanc   08-07-2006 at 03:49:38 PM
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For CL, it's the same logic as with the speeds of the modules, but reversed, because here lower is better.

If they don't have the same timings (not just the CL), the timings will automatically (AUTO in BIOS) be set to the highest value taken from the modules.

So, one 2.5 CL and one 3 CL module will work at 3 CL.
You can manually (in BIOS) set this to work at 2.5 CL, but it may not be stable (it depends on your luck).

As I said in the begining, lower timings are better for performance, but this means they cost more.

You don't have to buy 2.5 CL for you set up to work, it's just that 2.5 CL is faster (though not by much for you to notice) than 3 CL.

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jacobvz   08-07-2006 at 04:18:06 PM
- 0 +

Thx, all clear now

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