dropping older ddr2-400 into Allendale e4300

[vois2]

A friend has gathered the parts needed for his system and he is wanting to put his older RAM 2 x 1GB of DDR2-400 (PC2-3200) into :
Gigabyte 965P DS3
Allendale E4300

We will do no overclocking with this setup obviously. Later on he may invest into ddr2-800 for future overclocking options.

Question:
What I was wanting to know is whether I need to change *ANY* motherboard BIOS settings to account for the DDR2-400 *or* will the mobo detect the PC2-3200 RAM and automatically make those changes from the get-go ??

Thanks for your help.

 

[darious00777]

If it's set to "Auto" I would think it would. Then again, bottom end standard seems to be 533, which 400 could support. So in that case you might need to adjust after you install and boot. So, basically, put it in and find out. Doubt doing it would cause any damage. Then again, could be wrong.

 

[TonyStark]

I don't think that RAM will be supported.
http://tw.giga-byte.com/FileList/MemorySupport/motherboard_memory_ga-965p-ds3.pdf

 

[turboflame]

It'll be fine, 2 sticks of DDR2-400 in dual channel gives an effective 800mhz of memory bandwidth which matches the 800mhz fsb of the e4300. Just don't plan to overclock.

The mobo should detect it from the start.

 

[1Tanker]

It'll be fine, 2 sticks of DDR2-400 in dual channel gives an effective 800mhz of memory bandwidth which matches the 800mhz fsb of the e4300. Just don't plan to overclock.

The mobo should detect it from the start.

According to Intel's website, the P965 chipset doesn't support DDR2-400. Only the 945G and
down does.

Intel chipset list

 

[mr_fnord]

It'll be fine, 2 sticks of DDR2-400 in dual channel gives an effective 800mhz of memory bandwidth which matches the 800mhz fsb of the e4300. Just don't plan to overclock.

The mobo should detect it from the start.

According to Intel's website, the P965 chipset doesn't support DDR2-400. Only the 945G and
down does.

Intel chipset list

But, the e4300 hasn't been officially released, so it isn't listed either. Since the e4300 works correctly at 200Mhz and 1:1 memory multiplier is obviously an option the only concern would be if the MB autodetects the memory multiplier. If not, then the user will just have to set it to 1:1 in the BIOS.

 

[vois2]

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

While DDR2-400 is not officially supported on the 965 chipset, it will work. I was just curious whether I needed to make any motherboard settings changings from the get-go. When the E4300 came along, it offered the 800FSB to be able to match this older RAM.

For the board mentioned in my OP and the Allendale E4300, there are folks running the DDR2-400 with these in NewEgg reviews. So that gave me encouragement. I did receive the good advice (in a separate forum) that I may need to disable quick boot, as well as reset the battery of the CMOS, in order to force the motherboard to reconfigure into new settings.

DDR2-4200 (PC2-3200) may have been the first speed offered in the DDR2 line, I am not sure.

An explanation of unsupported RAM working in this scenario is given here:
(I copied this from a separate forum):
Although DDR2 400 memory is not officiallly supported here on that 965 chipset, I fancy it is a good match for the processor. Intel chipsets often support combinations and ratios they don't list You can only try it. You won't break anything. Bios should detect SPD settings off the RAM, but sometimes you need to disable quick boot or take out the CMOS battery for 5 minutes to force the bios to reconfigure. Worth trying because when you use slower memory, the effective speed change is minimal, you make up for most of it with CAS latency improvement. It'll be fine, 2 sticks of DDR2-400 in dual channel gives an effective 800mhz of memory bandwidth which matches the 800mhz fsb of the e4300. Just don't plan to overclock.

 

[dasickninja]

I don't know about the DS3, but on the DQ6 it doesn't work. You need an earlier chipset for that RAM.

 

[mr_fnord]

I don't know about the DS3, but on the DQ6 it doesn't work. You need an earlier chipset for that RAM.

DQ6 doesn't support 1:1 memory ratio?!? So you can't run an e6300 with DDR2-533?

 

[dasickninja]

1:1 ratio? Are you calculating that right? 1:1 would be DDR2 800.

 

[NotAPimecone]

It'll be fine, 2 sticks of DDR2-400 in dual channel gives an effective 800mhz of memory bandwidth which matches the 800mhz fsb of the e4300. Just don't plan to overclock.

The mobo should detect it from the start.

This is not quite right. Dual channel doubles bandwidth by adding another channel so you can transfer twice as much at any given time. This does not relate to the frequency of your RAM.

However, I would expect the RAM to work, given that the FSB will be at 200MHz (the "quad-pumped" speed of 800MHz is not important here), requiring 400MHz DDR at 1:1.

 

[mr_fnord]

An e6300 runs at 266Mhz system bus 'quad pumped' to a marketing label of '1066 FSB', so a 1:1 memory ratio with DDR2 memory, ie 'DDR2-533' is running at 266Mhz.

An e4300 runs at a 200Mhz system bus, ergo '800 FSB', and a 1:1 memory ratio yields 'DDR2-400'.

None of the boards list 200 Mhz based memory speeds, probably because 1) the e4xxx isn't officially released yet; and 2) they can't run slower than 1:1 and they don't want someone buying an e6xxx and trying to run DDR2-400 with it (which would require a memory ratio of .75), but if they can run an e4300 at stock speed (200 Mhz) then the 1:1 ratio will allow use of DDR2-400.

 

[turboflame]

It'll be fine, 2 sticks of DDR2-400 in dual channel gives an effective 800mhz of memory bandwidth which matches the 800mhz fsb of the e4300. Just don't plan to overclock.

The mobo should detect it from the start.

This is not quite right. Dual channel doubles bandwidth by adding another channel so you can transfer twice as much at any given time. This does not relate to the frequency of your RAM.

However, I would expect the RAM to work, given that the FSB will be at 200MHz (the "quad-pumped" speed of 800MHz is not important here), requiring 400MHz DDR at 1:1.

Yeah I know it doesn't double the frequency but it gives the same effect

 

[dasickninja]

Sorry, I equate 1:1 with running a 400/1600 bus. Been clocked that long I forgot about the other speeds.

 

[Anoobis]

Your workout music is going to give you a seizure.

 

[dasickninja]

Hehe.. Capo moves fast bro, I need music that can keep up.