adding 3rd chip of ram

[suprcharg]

I have an Athlon XP 2600+ (333)
2x512 generic sticks of DDR-400
If I stick another 512 stick of crucial DDR-333, is it going to be benificial or detrimental to my system performance?
Thanks for any help.

 

[impreza]

It should as 1gb is right on the limit of being enough. You shouldn't be cpu limited.

 

[Pain]

In NF2 boards [assuming it's nf2] I've seen some memory benchmark performance numbers decrease when adding a third stick. It may not matter much to overall system speed, depending on what you actually do. If I had to choose between benchmark numbers and actually having more memory when using large files, I'd choose the memory.

The only answer is to test it and see.

Also, if you are running your memory at 200Mhz now it of course will drop to 166 when you add the new stick of memory [pc2700). That probably won't make any difference though in system performance.

 

[mkaibear]

Are you running single or dual-channel?

If you're running dual-channel memory, you'll see a performance slowdown, how much will vary according to what you're actually doing with it.

If you're running single-channel memory, you won't see a performance decrease from the extra 512Mb - indeed, it should be faster (certainly you'll see less swapping under Windows, for example...)

 

[badge]

I have an Athlon XP 2600+ (333)
2x512 generic sticks of DDR-400
If I stick another 512 stick of crucial DDR-333, is it going to be benificial or detrimental to my system performance?
Thanks for any help.

If your running at 400 mhz with 2 sticks (your board does 400 mhz without issue) when you add the third stick you will likely be limited to running at 333 mhz (or less). So more RAM, but slower system speed. HTH.

 

[suprcharg]

CPU-Z doesn't say anything about being in dual channel mode. The DIMMs are in bank 1 and 2, so I don't know why its not. The mobo is an Abit KV7. I have not ever flashed the bios. Is it recommended to flash the bios? I noticed Abit came out with this cool little proggie to flash the bios through windows....about time

Thanks a ton for all of your help!!!!!!!!

 

[badge]

Your board will not do dual channel. The Nforce 2 chip does not support dual channel.

Correction: I have the Athlon 3400 socket A chip. It is the only socket A chip that will support dual channel with the corrrect MB. ALL other socket A chips are single channel capable only.

 

[crazyhandpuppet]

The NForce2 chipset does indeed support dual-channel. Here is a nice comparison between single-channel speeds and dual-channel speeds:

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/nforce2-1vs2channels/

The Abit KV7 suprcharg has is built around the VIA KT600 chipset which does not support dual-channel mode.

Likely there will see a bit of a slowdown as the overall speed will drop along with the bus speed, unless you inch up the multiplier. However, if you find load times and dealing with large files is consistantly hitting the hard drive, the extra 512MB will help.

 

[badge]

His 2600 will not support dual channel. My ASUS Nforce 2 is running in dual channel with aan Athlon 3400. Not all NF2 boards support dual channel. Most of them dont. HTH.

 

[suprcharg]

Hmm I guess I'll just leave the memory like it sits. I need to upgrade soon anyways. when I do upgrade I will pretty much have to build a whole seperate barebones kit. Is it a good idea to flash this bios? This will become my kid's PC to beat on.

 

[Pain]

The NF2 does support dual channel. I don't know what processor you have, but there wasn't an offical 3400 for the socket A, to the best of my knowlege. But, that's not what dictates single or dual channel on that socket, it's the chipset. His via chipset may not, but there are plenty of NF2 boards that do support dual channel. Now, if it actually does any good is a different story.

Now. As far as adding memory. I wouldn't hesitate to add the memory if you have it. Running the memory assyncronous to the cpu doesn't always help, and in some cases hurts performance even if running the memory faster than the cpu. So, with that said, it might be better to just run the memory at 333 anyway, so putting the other stick in may not make any difference. Like I said above, adding another stick may make the performance decrease. But, depending on what you are doing with the machine, more memory can sometimes trump overall speed.

As for flashing the bios. It may not be necessary. Check the bios version release notes and see what the new version does. If it fixes a bug that is effecting you, then flash it. If it's just adding a new feature or updating the cpu table, it may not be necessary.

 

[badge]

Yeah, your are right I think, the NF2 supports dual channel, but the Athlon 3400 is the only chip that will run dual channel. There is an official 3400 I have one and I paid $399 for it! It says 3400 2.2 in my Device manager and it rund DDR 400 mhz. in dual channel. It runs really better than one might imagine. I have been running Vista Beta 2 for a while with it. Thanks for correting me BTW. And thanks for the good information too.

 

[suprcharg]

The most taxing thing I do with my machine is play games like Battlefield 2 online. Thanks AGAIN for the quick replies. I'm still curious as whether or not to flash the bios

 

[Pain]

No, it's not the only chip that will run dual channel. I've got a half dozen NF2 boards running dual channel. I'd like to see a link to that processor, cause you've got me curious. I've never seen one before...3200+ was the fastest I was aware....and it runs at 2.2G. Does yours have 1M of L2 cache or something?

 

[badge]

The latest BIOS update would be years old by now. Your BIOS likely supports your processor and system very well.

 

[badge]

I fairly sure i'm right about the 3400 being the only Athlon socket A chip to support dual channel memory. I am really certain. I'll try and find a link.

 

[Pain]

The most taxing thing I do with my machine is play games like Battlefield 2 online. Thanks AGAIN for the quick replies. I'm still curious as whether or not to flash the bios

I added above what I thought about the bios.

BF2 is very memory hungry, so put the memory in and see what it does.

 

[Pain]

I fairly sure i'm right about the 3400 being the only Athlon socket A chip to support dual channel memory. I am really certain. I'll try and find a link.

Well. You might be certain, but you aren't right.

I'll wait to see the link, I'm curious.

Athlon XP, Barton core, 512M L2, at 400 FSB, 2.2G is the 3200+. If you have a 3400+ maybe it has 1M of L2 cache, I dunno. Never heard of it.

 

[badge]

I don't know what this article is about, bu t I have very last AMD Athlon socket A processor and it is an ATHLON 3400 xp that runs dual channel memory. Mine is not the mobile version. It is the desktop version.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/Press_Presentation_PR_A64_3400_AXPM_2200.pdf

 

[Pain]

That article is about the A64. It can't be a socket A.

 

[badge]

Here you are:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Weblets/0,,7832_8366_7595~87772,00.html

EDIT: The 64 again! I have the processor I will find it.

 

[Pain]

Do you still have the machine? Open up system information and see what it says.

In any case, the NF2 supports dual channel, it's not dependant on the cpu. The board may not have it, but the chipset will support it.

 

[badge]

I have the machine mothballed for about 2 weeks. I have vista beta on it. I'll be working on my computers stonight. If I get a chance I'll see if I can get a screen shot of the device manager up. I'm still looking.

 

[badge]

Power With The Athlon XP 3400+ And 2666 MHz

http://www.tomshardware.com/2002/08/21/at_the_last_second/page3.html

 

[badge]

I need one of these. Supports ATHLON XP up to 3400+.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=86163