3GB on Gigabyte Ga-8knxp, what to use?

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Mike123

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I am trying to put 3GB ram on a ga-8knxp mobo. There are many reviews on ram, but none goes more than 2GB. I am looking for PC3200 DDR, 6 x 512MB, no overclock, and the mobo manual specifies to use SINGLE-SIDED ram to fit all 6 memory slots. I checked the tech specification of various ram vendors, nobody seems to mention whether their ram is single or double sided.

Anyone has tried more than 2GB? Which ram should I use? Can winxp pro (and apps) utilize more than 2GB ram?

Thanks,
Mike
 
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Mike123

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The system will be for statistical analysis on huge amount of data. I have calculated carefully, I really can use that much amount of memory, if the OS and mobo supports it.
 
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nimrod

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The 8knxp can take up to 4 gb of memory. The four blue slots can handle 512 mb sticks each, and the two orange slots can handle 1gb sticks each for 4gb total. The two orange slots are the ones that can take the dual sided DDR.

Nobody even makes pc3200 1gb DDR yet do they??
 
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Prof133

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Yeah, Gigabyte has confused many by this board's layout. Canterwood/Springdale chipset can read 8 banks max - therefore, 4 double-sided memory modules max. So, as a consequence, the only way to reach 4GB with 8KNXP is with 4 1GB memory modules.

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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Prof133

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Nobody even makes pc3200 1gb DDR yet do they??
Click to expand...
If my memory serves me correctly, Elpida recently introduced a PC3200 1GB unbuffered memory module.

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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nimrod

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Yup, I'm definately confused. The worse part is that I thought I had it figured out. I was planning on buying 6 sticks of the pc3200 512mb DDR that is so common today. The thing is that it is just about all dual sided, right?? So that means it will only recognize 4 sticks of it? (4 X dual sided?)

Here's what a lady told me from a pc place:
"You can buy 4 DIMMs but you can't run them all in the same PC at 400MHz. No mainboard out can handle the overtaxed memory registers at that speed. It's an insurmountable problem that limits users to 1.0 GB in a Dual Channel board when running DDR400, and 512MB in a single channel board at that speed. When the 1.0 GB DIMMs come out, then you can run a pair of them to get to 2.0 GB. But if you try to run 8 banks of DDR400 RAM in any board, dual channel or not, you may boot, but it won't run properly. The memory registers will overflow and that will be the end of your computing session, and you may end up with a hard drive full of improper data and a corrupt OS - overwritten files, etc...
It's done by banks of RAM (a bank is one side of a DIMM, so a double-sided DIMM is two banks). Per CHANNEL, the MAXIMUM amount of RAM you can run is:

at 400MHz: 2 banks
at 333MHz: 4 banks
at 266MHz 6 banks (may be stretched)
at 200MHz 8 banks

There are GOZILLIONS of people out there running more than 1.0 GB, but not at DDR400 speed...."

If this is the case then, the only way I can even run 1gb is if I get single sided 512mb sticks? What are most people doing nowadays as far as the mem vs. speed go in this case?

I didn't find that article by Tom telling about which DDRs are single & dual sided. Do you have a link to it?

Thanks.
 
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Prof133

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I was planning on buying 6 sticks of the pc3200 512mb DDR that is so common today. The thing is that it is just about all dual sided, right?? So that means it will only recognize 4 sticks of it? (4 X dual sided?)
Click to expand...
That's right. :D All commercially available 512MB DDR SDRAM memory modules are double-sided. The cost to make them single-sided would be considerably higher than double-sided. So, if 6 512MB sticks are placed in 8KNXP, only four of them will be recognized.

Note: Almost all 256MB DDR memory modules are single-sided.

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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Prof133

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Here's what a lady told me from a pc place:
"You can buy 4 DIMMs but you can't run them all in the same PC at 400MHz. No mainboard out can handle the overtaxed memory registers at that speed. It's an insurmountable problem that limits users to 1.0 GB in a Dual Channel board when running DDR400, and 512MB in a single channel board at that speed. When the 1.0 GB DIMMs come out, then you can run a pair of them to get to 2.0 GB. But if you try to run 8 banks of DDR400 RAM in any board, dual channel or not, you may boot, but it won't run properly. The memory registers will overflow and that will be the end of your computing session, and you may end up with a hard drive full of improper data and a corrupt OS - overwritten files, etc...
It's done by banks of RAM (a bank is one side of a DIMM, so a double-sided DIMM is two banks). Per CHANNEL, the MAXIMUM amount of RAM you can run is:

at 400MHz: 2 banks
at 333MHz: 4 banks
at 266MHz 6 banks (may be stretched)
at 200MHz 8 banks

There are GOZILLIONS of people out there running more than 1.0 GB, but not at DDR400 speed...."

If this is the case then, the only way I can even run 1gb is if I get single sided 512mb sticks?
Click to expand...
Rest assured, it is possible to run 1GB or even 2GB at DDR400 speed. You'll just need a memory module that is up to it. Just contact the chosen manuf. (i.e. Corsair, Mushkin, etc.) and ask them which memory module they suggest for the said configuration. ;)

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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Prof133

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If ya browse the <A HREF="http://www.houseofhelp.com/v2/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=128" target="_new">Corsair Forum</A> you'll find folks running 2GB of memory (2x Corsair TwinX 1024MB-PC3200LL, for example) on motherboards with the canterwood chipset without problems. It's a good forum. I get a lot of useful information there! :D

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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Prof133

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If this is the case then, the only way I can even run 1gb is if I get single sided 512mb sticks? What are most people doing nowadays as far as the mem vs. speed go in this case?
Click to expand...
The most common way folks reach 1GB is two 512MB sticks. I would choose a quality module of at least DDR400 speed rating.

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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Prof133

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If ya browse the Corsair Forum you'll find folks running 2GB of memory (2x Corsair TwinX 1024MB-PC3200LL, for example) on motherboards with the canterwood chipset without problems.
Click to expand...
Although, I would recommend Kingston HyperX with 8KNXP as it seems to agree with this particular motherboard more than the Corsair.

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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Flinx

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This question has been puzzling me. I was doing some research for a purchase and ran into this problem and am still not 100% sure what's going on. Prof.. thanks for lots of useful info, like now I understand why 2GB has not been achieved. Yet I worry since the manufacturers post even smaller maximums (see kingston and corsair below). Can you perhaps point out the incongruity?

Lets look at the ABIT NF7-S
Here is what<A HREF="http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=NF7-S&fMTYPE=Socket A&pPRODINFO=Specifications" target="_new"> abit</A> says:
Three 184-pin DIMM sockets
Supports 3 DIMM DDR 200/266/333 (Max. 3 GB)
Supports 2 DIMM DDR 400 (Max. 2 GB)
Click to expand...
Here is what <A HREF="http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator/modelsinfo.asp?SysID=+13232+&distributor=0&submit1=Search" target="_new">Kingston's</A> memory selector reports:
Maximum Memory: 512MB using 400MHz DDR modules
1GB using 333MHz DDR modules
3GB using 266MHz DDR modules

Expansion: 3 Sockets

Central Processor: AMD Athlon XP Nvidia nForce2

Bus Architecture: PCI
Mfgr's System P/N's: N/A
Config / Kingston Part Number / Qty (Upgrade Path)

---------------------------------
Using 266MHz DDR modules:
Virtually any configuration up to 3GB can be reached using any combination of Kingston's 128, 256, 512MB, and 1GB modules.
----------------------
Using 333MHz DDR modules:
Supports only two banks at 333MHz using two 256MB (single bank) modules, one 512MB (double bank) module, or one 1GB (double bank) module.
---------------------
Using 400MHz DDR modules:
Supports only two banks at 400MHz using two 256MB (single bank) modules or one 512MB (double bank) module.
Click to expand...
Is the difference between the Rev 1.?? and Rev 2 Mobo?

<A HREF="http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/guides/Abit-Jul2003.pdf" target="_new"> Corsair </A> doesn't even recommend a dual bank

on the other hand <A HREF="http://www.ocztechnology.com/support/motherboard/40" target="_new">OCZ </A> doesn't have a problem to get to 1GB <<-P.S. <b>Good info for overclockers!!!!!</b>
We have completed preliminary testing on the Abit NF-7 (rev 1.2 and rev2.0) based on the nVidia nForce 2 chipset. All OCZ PC-2700, PC-3200 and PC-3500 DDR DIMMs, including dual channel kits, have been tested 100% reliable and stable on the NF-7 using 2x256MB and 2x512MB.
Click to expand...


Can someone clear up the seeming incongruities between this information and previous statements about maximum dual channel memory etc.??

Should I be cautious of buying 2x512 Kingston, or other quality memory, for dual channel purposes?


Thanking you in advance for time and trouble.

---------------------
P.S. OCZ a little difficult to get here.

The loving are the daring!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flinx on 09/16/03 05:35 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
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Prof133

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Very interesting. I'm not exactly sure how the above numbers were derived but I would say that the best way to make a decision about memory configuration is to either go to the manufacturer's forum (not all manufs. have one) and ask (or search) which memory configuration would be recommended for a given motherboard/chipset and desired amount of memory or duplicate a friend/peer's setup.

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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Prof133

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Should I be cautious of buying 2x512 Kingston, or other quality memory, for dual channel purposes?
Click to expand...
Shouldn't have any problems running the appropriate 512MB memory modules in a dual-channel environment. ;)

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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nimrod

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Looking at the manual for the 8knxp board, 4 of the 6 slots take single sided memory and the other 2 slots take dual sided. So feasibly, the most the mobo could accept is 2 512mb sticks and 4 256mb sticks for a 2gb total?? Even if I put 4 512mb sticks in, would it not even recognize the 512 stick in the single sided slot, or only see half of it?

Even with the 2gb option, would I be able to run it at DDR400mhz with the 800 FSB speed?

I asked Gigabyte, but they're pretty slow getting back to me with any kind of customer support.
 
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Prof133

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- I am sorry for the slow reply.

- The purple colored slots will all only work while using single sided memory. If dual sided memory is used, only 2 out of the 4 purple colored slots will function. And you can run 2GB at Dual-channel DDR400 with 800MHz FSB speed.

<b><font color=blue>Oh, I can shed light on that ...</font color=blue></b>
 
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