ASUS RAM Options

[Fl3x]

The board: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe nVidia nForce2 SPP
The brain: Athlon 2700 w/333 fsb

Now which is fastest?

Run dual-channel DDR?

Say, two DIMMs of 256 (totaling 512) (dual-channel DDR)
vs.
A single 512 DIMM

or what about sticking in three 256 DIMMs for a 768 total?
Could I use dual-channel DDR with these three 256 DIMMs?
And how would that compare a pair of Corsair's TWINX DIMMs, totaling 512mb?
(All DIMMs will be Corsair XMS, probably DDR400, PC-3200)

I'm having trouble finding such information. Anything would help, especially charts. Thanks.

Fl3x


I'm somewhere where I don't know where I am.

 

[bum_jcrules]

<A HREF="http://www.overclockers.com/tips00157/" target="_new">Use dual channel for best bandwidth.</A> You can use three DIMMs but in a dual configuration it will be less effective than using memory in DIMM0 and DIMM1 only. On nForce and nForce2 boards there are two memory controllers. MC0 is responsable for DIMM0 and MC1 is responsable for DIMM1 and DIMM2. So you can use different speed memories and have all three filled but you will not get the best results. Run in DIMM0 and DIMM1 with modules of the same speed and density for maximum results.

As for memory, 512MB is more than enough for most applications. So you can run 2 x 128MB or 2 x 256MB. Anything more i my opinion is basically overkill.

<b><font color=red>Fredi</font color=red> <font color=red>Fredi</font color=red> He's our man! If he can't do it no one can!</b>