Can an amd phenom II x4 940 run ddr3 ram

killstation3

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Dec 4, 2009
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This is kind of a dumb question, but....can my amd phenom II x4 run ddr3 ram? Because i have a motherboard that supports both ddr2 and ddr3 ram and i heard that only am3 cpu's can run ddr3 ram, and my cpu is an am2+.And if so than can i use both ddr2 and ddr3 ram at the same time, because i've ran out of slots for ddr2 and i wanted to get more ram.
 

fatkid35

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all 9XX phenom 2 cpus have ddr2 and 3 controlers built into the die. your board will not support both ram at once. pick one. or the other. just get more ddr3 ram. get rid of the ddr2 altogether.
 

ubernoobie

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It is only possible to use 1 version of ddr on a motherboard at a time, eg if you have a mobo with 2 slots ddr2, 2slot ddr3, you can only use 1 of them, not both
 

lowjack989

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my 940 says that it has both memory controllers...using amd overdrive under hardware, double click on one of the cores then scroll down and you will find that the 940 contains both controllers. At least mine does.
 

pjc

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Hi, please allow a suggestion:

940/ AM2+ may have the same die layout as 945/ AM3 at the same stepping but with different schemata of connections between die and socket pins. Because of that all 9x0/ AM2+ could only work with DDR2 but all 9x5/ AM3 could work with DDR2 or DDR3 each at one time but not together. In the case of 9x5/ AM3 it only depends on the mobo with its BIOS and if the mobo supports free memory choice DDR2 and DDR3 it depends on installed memory and configuration which IMC will be used and actively connected through socket pins.

The main difference between AM2+/ AM3 CPU is that in AM2+ CPUs only the IMC for DDR2 is connected to the outside (fixed) - may be the other one is on die, too, but not connected to socket pins furthermore AM3 CPUs have two full functional and connectable IMCs - for both, DDR2 and DDR3, too, and both can be connected alternatively to outside through socket pins.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thx.