(Msg. 1) Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 4:14 pm
Post subject: Help with build

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I have been running an XP3200, Nforce2 motherboard, 1gbddr3200, 6800GS,with all 16 pipes enabled via Rivatuner, but was recently given a new OEM PentiumD 940. (Ya, I know but it was free). I got an Asrock Dual VSTA MB, and a Thermaltake silent 775DPWN+4heatpipes. I transfered everything into my case, using the ddr3200 ram and the agp 6800GS. I figure this will allow me an upgrade path to ddr2 ram, C2D, and PCIx, one piece at a time. At this point I have $102.00, into the upgrade(if it even is one at this point), but right away after loading windows and all it says I have 512mb of ram in single channel mode. Bios says 512 and so does windowsxp. I downloaded cpu-z, and it says I have 1024 mb of ram in dual channel, which is what it should be. Anyone know why only half my ram is showing up. I have switched ram in slots, I have 3 sticks alltogether. None will boot the pc in slot 2 only, all will boot it in slot 1 only, all show 512, when both slots used, ram is good. Is motherboard defective? I dont want to RMA it and tear everything back apart, if I am just missing something in the bios, or somewhere. Help!

It sounds like your BIOS is recognizing only the RAM installed in the first DIMM for whatever reason. You could email tech support and ask if this is normal. You might try and update to the latest BIOS. HTH.

Mind telling us what the 3 sticks are? Like Manufacturer/Freq/Latancy?

They are all ddr400, Kingston value ram, 512mb, i think cas latency is 3.
I am probably going to get a 2gb corsair xms2 675 kit,soon, which could make this whole thing a non-issue, unless it doesnt recognize all of that either, in which case I would assume the board is bad, and it might be anyway. It just seemed strange that cpu-z finds all the ram, especially if , say the slot is bad. I have a little over a week to mess with it before I'll have to rma it, i guess. Asrock tech support is unavailable, as they are closed for a holiday for the week

Does anyone have experience working with an Asrock, 4core dual VSTA motherboard? I bought a 2gb kit of corsair XMS2 675 ddr2 ram, since the board was only recognizing one of my sticks of kingston ddr 400 ram. (tried 3 different sticks of the ddr400, al work in other pc). Guess what/ Its only recognizing 1 stick of the new ram too.(first slot). Once again I ran cpu z, and it finds both sticks and IDs them correctly. I still dont know if the board is bad, or if I am missing something in the set-up. Any help would be great!!
Also, do you guys think I should see an increase in FPS in games like DoD source, CoD2, Fear etc, from going from an XP 3200, to the pentium D940,using the same video card?(6800GS all 16 pipes unlocked), or was the video card my bottleneck in these games. Thanks

Have you upgraded the BIOS, or emailed tech support. You should be able to tell, but if both sets are really 1GB, it won't show much in Games, just in the benckmarks.

Like I stated earlier, Asrck is closed for the week, so no tech support is available, so no, I havent been able to contact them. As far as the Bios...the board has 2 slots for ram, so I would expect they both should work, without an update to the bios.