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Single Channel vs Double Channel

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Memory - Single Channel vs Double Channel

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mjamil   06-05-2009 at 03:41:28 AM

Hello All!

I have an interesting problem.

I am currently running on AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor (3800+) 2.01 GHz; Windows XP (32 bit). Motherboard manufacturer is ASUSTek (Model: Narra 1.01).

My computer's been running on 2 GB for a few months, so I go to newegg and get myself an extra 1 GB of ram. I put in the new ram, the system recognizes it, however, I do not notice a performance increase. So I ran memtest86+ and it came back with no errors at all. I ran CPU-Z and noticed that my computer is still running on Single Channel (and has not switched over to double).

My memory configuration is like so:

4 Slots:
Slot 1 (Blue Colored Slot): 1 GB DDR2 PC2-4300 (Corsair)
Slot 2 (Blue Colored Slot): 512 MB DDR2 PC2-4300 (Hyundai Electronics)
Slot 3 (Black Colored Slot): 1 GB DDR2 PC2-5300 (Corsair) <-- The new one
Slot 4 (Black Colored Slot): 512 MB DDR2 PC2-4300 (Hyundai Electronics)

Do the blue and black colored slots not indicate double channel? I've also tried putting the 1GBs in slots 1 and 2; and putting the 512s in slots 3 and 4.

Any ideas would be much appreciated. : )

Thanks,


Message edited by mjamil on 06-05-2009 at 04:10:58 AM
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ausch30   06-11-2009 at 06:01:27 PM

Usually they use one color per channel so the blue would be one channel and the black would be another. You have 3 different types of memory which is likely the problem. I would suggest taking out the 2x 1gb sticks and putting the 2x 512 sticks in the same colored slots. After that check CPUZ to see if it's now running in dual channel. After that replace the 512 sticks with the 1gb sticks and check again.

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gamerk316   06-11-2009 at 06:56:09 PM

Manually set the memory clocks so they all run the same; thats probably the reason your stuck in single channel.

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MaDMagik   06-11-2009 at 07:03:53 PM

+1^

Also, Im not sure what performance increase you expected. Even 2gb is more than enough for 32bit XP in everyday use, so unless you use your pc to operate on very large files you wont see any difference at all.

Reply to MaDMagik
MaDMagik   06-11-2009 at 07:06:15 PM

That +1^ to ausch30 of course

Reply to MaDMagik
ausch30   06-11-2009 at 07:08:49 PM

gamerk316 wrote :

Manually set the memory clocks so they all run the same; thats probably the reason your stuck in single channel.





Depending on the memory controller it could also be the DIMM density that could cause the issue which is why I suggested what I did. Some controllers are more sensitive than others. If the system is up and running, the motherboard already set all the sticks to the same speed and timings.

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