Getting 4G into the K8N SLI

Let me start by saying that I don't understand all the single/double
talk. I've tried to read and understand it but it gets confusing to
follow. Not to mention that I have no idea if double sided means the
same as dual-channel. To make things worse, I go to buy memory and
half the time I can't tell if it's double or single
sided/channel/whatever. So let me ask this question:

If I go buy 2 set of Corsair 2GB DDR400 XMS3200 DIMM Memory
(TWINX20483200) for a total of 4 1G modules, will it work in my k8n SLI
-F motherboard?

If not, please explain.

I think (but I'm not sure) that the memory above is dual channel. I
have no ideas if they are double sided or not because they have heat
spreaders on them. On page 2-7 of the manual it shows 4 Dual channel
modules installed in the black and blue slots (which coincidently are
green and purple)

On page 2-8 the manual shows 4 double sided modules as only working if
they are DDR333. This is so freakin' confusing.

Thanks to anyone that can set me straight on this.

In article < .com>, Hiro says...
>
>Let me start by saying that I don't understand all the single/double
>talk. I've tried to read and understand it but it gets confusing to
>follow. Not to mention that I have no idea if double sided means the
>same as dual-channel. To make things worse, I go to buy memory and
>half the time I can't tell if it's double or single
>sided/channel/whatever. So let me ask this question:
>
>If I go buy 2 set of Corsair 2GB DDR400 XMS3200 DIMM Memory
>(TWINX20483200) for a total of 4 1G modules, will it work in my k8n SLI
>-F motherboard?
>
>If not, please explain.
>
>I think (but I'm not sure) that the memory above is dual channel. I
>have no ideas if they are double sided or not because they have heat
>spreaders on them. On page 2-7 of the manual it shows 4 Dual channel
>modules installed in the black and blue slots (which coincidently are
>green and purple)
>
>On page 2-8 the manual shows 4 double sided modules as only working if
>they are DDR333. This is so freakin' confusing.
>
>Thanks to anyone that can set me straight on this.

OK. First up, there is no such thing as "Dual Channel Memory" - DDR memory is
DDR memory.

Dual Channel Mode is something that your *Motherboard* will enable, providing
you've put the correct memory in the correct slots - usually this means one or
two identical PAIRS of memory sticks.

If you want Dual Channel Mode, then just buy a pair of identical RAM sticks, and
put them in the slots that your manual tells you to.

Your second issue, boils down to the memory controller inside the Athlon 64 CPU.
It can only drive TWO memory sticks at DDR400 speed - if you want to use four
memory sticks, it will drop the speed down to DDR333.

So to sum up :
2 Memory Sticks in the right slots, will give Dual Channel at DDR400 speed.
4 Memory Sticks in the right slots, will give Dual Channel at DDR333 speed.

If you need 4GB of memory, then you need a pair of 2GB sticks. Four sticks of
1GB, will give you a performance penalty (cos they'll be running at DDR333
instead of DDR400).

On 7 Aug 2006 05:44:34 -0700, Nom <> wrote:


>Your second issue, boils down to the memory controller inside the Athlon 64 CPU.
>It can only drive TWO memory sticks at DDR400 speed - if you want to use four
>memory sticks, it will drop the speed down to DDR333.

Not true with newer core processors. That's been fixed for about a
year now.

Ok, Nom's explaination makes sense and I would like to believe what
Folk added.

Folk, the manual still says that 333 is the MAX for double sided memory
(not sure why they use the term "Double-SIDED"). Are you telling me
that if I buy 4x400s I will get full speed? Is there a BOIS upgrade I
would need to make or are you saying that this is a characteristic of
the processor alone. I just bought an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+

BTW, The motherboard does not clainm to support 2G modules so 4x1G is
my only hope

Thanks.


Folk wrote:
> On 7 Aug 2006 05:44:34 -0700, Nom <> wrote:
>
>
> >Your second issue, boils down to the memory controller inside the Athlon 64 CPU.
> >It can only drive TWO memory sticks at DDR400 speed - if you want to use four
> >memory sticks, it will drop the speed down to DDR333.
>
> Not true with newer core processors. That's been fixed for about a
> year now.

Hi,

BTW, I don't know if this will be the case with the K8N SLI, but with my
MSI K8NGM2-FID mobo, it cannot use a full 4GB (4x1GB) of memory.

I was kind of surprised by this when I stuck the 4 sticks into the
machine, and when I researched it (afterwards ), it seems like this is
a common problem with mobos that claim that they support 4GB. So, I
ended up using 3x1GB + 1x512MB, and still the mobo sees only something
like "3390MB" (same as when I had 4x1GB).

Jim




Hiro wrote:
> Ok, Nom's explaination makes sense and I would like to believe what
> Folk added.
>
> Folk, the manual still says that 333 is the MAX for double sided memory
> (not sure why they use the term "Double-SIDED"). Are you telling me
> that if I buy 4x400s I will get full speed? Is there a BOIS upgrade I
> would need to make or are you saying that this is a characteristic of
> the processor alone. I just bought an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
>
> BTW, The motherboard does not clainm to support 2G modules so 4x1G is
> my only hope
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> Folk wrote:
>> On 7 Aug 2006 05:44:34 -0700, Nom <> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Your second issue, boils down to the memory controller inside the Athlon 64 CPU.
>>> It can only drive TWO memory sticks at DDR400 speed - if you want to use four
>>> memory sticks, it will drop the speed down to DDR333.
>> Not true with newer core processors. That's been fixed for about a
>> year now.
>

Hiro wrote:

> Ok, Nom's explaination makes sense and I would like to believe what
> Folk added.
>
> Folk, the manual still says that 333 is the MAX for double sided memory
> (not sure why they use the term "Double-SIDED"). Are you telling me
> that if I buy 4x400s I will get full speed? Is there a BOIS upgrade I
> would need to make or are you saying that this is a characteristic of
> the processor alone. I just bought an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
>
> BTW, The motherboard does not clainm to support 2G modules so 4x1G is
> my only hope
>
> Thanks.
>

Folk is correct. The 333 limit with 4 sticks was the case at the time
the manual was written. That was a limitation of the older processors.
Newer versions, such as your X2, don't have that limitation. IIRC, it is
the post-Venice cores.

Mort

In article <44d7f3aa$>, Mortimer says...
>
>Hiro wrote:
>
>> Ok, Nom's explaination makes sense and I would like to believe what
>> Folk added.
>>
>> Folk, the manual still says that 333 is the MAX for double sided memory
>> (not sure why they use the term "Double-SIDED"). Are you telling me
>> that if I buy 4x400s I will get full speed? Is there a BOIS upgrade I
>> would need to make or are you saying that this is a characteristic of
>> the processor alone. I just bought an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
>>
>> BTW, The motherboard does not clainm to support 2G modules so 4x1G is
>> my only hope
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>
>Folk is correct. The 333 limit with 4 sticks was the case at the time
>the manual was written. That was a limitation of the older processors.
>Newer versions, such as your X2, don't have that limitation. IIRC, it is
>the post-Venice cores.

Noted - thanks !

Well, let me tell you the results of my real world testing. I install
2x1G in the first 2 slots and 2x512 in the other two slots and it came
up at 333 instead of 400. As soon as I remove either the 1Gs or the
512s it goes back to 400.

I have the X2 proc so according to Mort, this should not be happening.
Is there a setting I need to change or maybe a BIOS update?

Thanks.


Mortimer wrote:
> Hiro wrote:
>
> > Ok, Nom's explaination makes sense and I would like to believe what
> > Folk added.
> >
> > Folk, the manual still says that 333 is the MAX for double sided memory
> > (not sure why they use the term "Double-SIDED"). Are you telling me
> > that if I buy 4x400s I will get full speed? Is there a BOIS upgrade I
> > would need to make or are you saying that this is a characteristic of
> > the processor alone. I just bought an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
> >
> > BTW, The motherboard does not clainm to support 2G modules so 4x1G is
> > my only hope
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
>
> Folk is correct. The 333 limit with 4 sticks was the case at the time
> the manual was written. That was a limitation of the older processors.
> Newer versions, such as your X2, don't have that limitation. IIRC, it is
> the post-Venice cores.
>
> Mort

On 6 Aug 2006 19:05:16 -0700, "Hiro" <> wrote:

>Let me start by saying that I don't understand all the single/double
>talk. I've tried to read and understand it but it gets confusing to
>follow. Not to mention that I have no idea if double sided means the
>same as dual-channel. To make things worse, I go to buy memory and
>half the time I can't tell if it's double or single
>sided/channel/whatever. So let me ask this question:

If the module has memory chips on both sides of it, then it's a double sided
module.

>If I go buy 2 set of Corsair 2GB DDR400 XMS3200 DIMM Memory
>(TWINX20483200) for a total of 4 1G modules, will it work in my k8n SLI
>-F motherboard?
>
>If not, please explain.

They should work, but it's probably a waste of money as you can't use more than
a little over 3GB. According to MSI the South Bridge can only detect a little
over 3GB when 4 1GB modules are used. I've never been able to use 4GB on any
Nforce 4 motherboard.

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p...SLI-F&class=mb