Asus mobo memory requirements

  • Thread starter Thread starter SteveO
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SteveO

I built a PC with an Asus p4p800 mobo about two years ago. I put in 2
sticks of Kingston ValueRam KVR400X64C25/256. I went with the
Kensington PC3200 because it was on the approved chart for this board
at the ASUS site.

I'm trying to upgrade to 1gig. I can't remember if I just blop in 2
more sticks of this stuff will it work ok with this mobo. I remember
the p4p800 was pretty particular with the RAM you put in. Now I can't
find that approved chart on the ASUS site.

3 Questions:
1. Will it work ok if I put 2 more sticks in of KVR400X64C25/256?
2. Where did that chart go??
3. I only have 4 slots on the mobo. If I add these 2 sticks, I'm done.
Should I sell the 2 256MB sticks and but 2 512MBs?

Thanks.

SteveO
 
SteveO said:
I built a PC with an Asus p4p800 mobo about two years ago. I put in 2
sticks of Kingston ValueRam KVR400X64C25/256. I went with the
Kensington PC3200 because it was on the approved chart for this board
at the ASUS site.

I'm trying to upgrade to 1gig. I can't remember if I just blop in 2
more sticks of this stuff will it work ok with this mobo. I remember
the p4p800 was pretty particular with the RAM you put in. Now I can't
find that approved chart on the ASUS site.

3 Questions:
1. Will it work ok if I put 2 more sticks in of KVR400X64C25/256?
2. Where did that chart go??
3. I only have 4 slots on the mobo. If I add these 2 sticks, I'm done.
Should I sell the 2 256MB sticks and but 2 512MBs?

Thanks.

SteveO
Click to expand...

Chart is still there:
http://usa.asus.com/100/download/products/180/180_10.pdf
 
Ah. There it is. Thank you very much. Good thing I asked. Doesn't
look like I can put 4 sticks in there according to the chart. Thanks
again.
 
SteveO said:
I built a PC with an Asus p4p800 mobo about two years ago. I put in 2
sticks of Kingston ValueRam KVR400X64C25/256. I went with the
Kensington PC3200 because it was on the approved chart for this board
at the ASUS site.

I'm trying to upgrade to 1gig. I can't remember if I just blop in 2
more sticks of this stuff will it work ok with this mobo. I remember
the p4p800 was pretty particular with the RAM you put in. Now I can't
find that approved chart on the ASUS site.

3 Questions:
1. Will it work ok if I put 2 more sticks in of KVR400X64C25/256?
2. Where did that chart go??
3. I only have 4 slots on the mobo. If I add these 2 sticks, I'm done.
Should I sell the 2 256MB sticks and but 2 512MBs?

Thanks.

SteveO
Click to expand...

There is an Intel document here, that compares the performance
from various configurations of memory.

ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/applnots/25303601.pdf

You could buy the 2x512MB, plug them into a pair of slots in
dual channel configuration, then run SuperPI and see how long
it takes to do a calculation. Then, plug in the 2x256MB extra,
and run the SuperPI test again. That will tell you whether
the extra 2x256MB makes any significant difference.

Two pairs of matched DIMMs (pairs of different sized DIMMs)
will be slightly slower than four matched DIMMs. The difference
is, if the DIMMs match in size (rows, columns, banks, ranks),
dynamic mode addressing is used. What that means, is a linear
set of memory addresses, are spread over the four DIMMs
uniformly, so that when a contiguous block of memory is fetched,
all four DIMMs take turns (as two pairs of course). That access
pattern, allows more memory pages to be kept open on average,
and an open page has a lower access time (less overhead, as
it doesn't need to be opened again). You may find the difference
is pretty small, between dynamic (interleaved) and linear
(non-interleaved) modes, and not worth worrying about.

You should also check Ebay, and see whether there is any interest
in 2x256MB DIMMs. The price they might fetch, might not be too
high (unless they were Winbond BH-5 chips or something).

HTH,
Paul
 
Ah. There it is. Thank you very much. Good thing I asked. Doesn't
look like I can put 4 sticks in there according to the chart. Thanks
again.
Click to expand...

I've got a p4p800 Deluxe and I'm running 4 sticks of KVR400X64C25/256
for 1gig of memory. The manual even specifically mentions these sticks
as supporting 4 modules in dual-channel.

Go for it.
 
SteveO said:
Ah. There it is. Thank you very much. Good thing I asked. Doesn't
look like I can put 4 sticks in there according to the chart. Thanks
again.
Click to expand...

People regularly use four sticks of memory on 865PE/875 boards.
I've used 4x512 Ballistix on my P4C800-E Deluxe no problems. Those lists
are old and too pessimistic. And the lists are not updated when the
BIOS changes, so the list is hardly prescriptive.

Paul
 
I ended up purchasing 2 new sticks of KVR400X64C3A/512. I didn't wait
until these new posts came in saying that KVR400X64C25/256 * 4 would
work fine. Well, at least I can put the 2x512 sticks in the first bank
and then see if the 2x256 sticks help or hurt performance. I can then
sell them if needed and still allow myself to upgrade to 2 gig in the
future.

Of course I had to spend more $$ for this solution. However, the 2
sticks of 512 were only $78. I spent way more than that for 2x256 2
years ago.

Thanks for everyone's reply. I'll definitely use the SuperPI tool as
well. I will post the results in case anyone is interested.
 
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