The "problem" only occurs with certain motherboards when all four slots are
populated. The speed will drop from 400 to 333. There has never been any
problem running any motherboard with 1, 2 or 3 DIMMS.
The bus speed can drop when you go to 3 sticks. This drop is related to
the fact the the 754 package only provides 6 clock pairs, with each DIMM
requiring 3 clock pairs. When you put in the third DIMM an external
clock buffer is recommended and while DIMM1 gets its own address and
command pins, DIMM2 and 3 must share the second one.
Also, it has been documented that the use of Pstate transistions
(basically Cool'nQuiet) can result in unpredictable results when 3 DIMMs
are used.
On the K8NE, the owners manual, specifies that the max speed for
1 DIMM - DDR400.
2 DIMMs - DDR400 as long DIMM1 is filled.
3 DIMMs - DDR333 if all single sided DIMMS or
the combination of Double/Single/Double are used
- DDR200 for any other combination.
(note: Double here is double sided, not dual channel).
Lastly, there is an approved list of DIMMs that can be used.
See page 2-12 in
http://www.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/sock754/K8N-E_DX/e1883_k8n-e_deluxe.pdf
There is supposed to be an updated list on the ASUS site, but I haven't
found it.