Interpreting a PCChips Motherboard Manual

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Grinder

I'm working an older PCChips motherboard, a M920LR. I can put the
manual up for you if you're interested--it's not easy to find online.
At any rate I'm trying to figure out what memory the machine can take.

The introduction to the board says this:

| Memory Support
| The mainboard accommodates 2 DDR + 2 SDR 168 pin,
| 3.3V DIMM sockets with a total capacity of 1 GB
| system memory.

Here's the bit in the manual about installing memory:

| Installing Memory Modules
| This mainboard accommodates 168-pin 3.3V/184-pin 2.5V
| unbuffered SDRAM memory modules. The memory chips must
| be standard or registered SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic
| Random Access Memory).
|
| The CPU supports 100MHz system bus. The SDRAM DIMMs
| and DDRs can synchronously work with 100 MHz or operates
| over a 133 MHz system bus.
|
| You must install at least one memory module in order to
| use the mainboard, and *you can only use one of the both
| SDRAM and DDR SDRAM at the same time.*

What the hell? Does this mean that I can use 1 SDR socket and 1 DDR
socket at the same time, but not both?

| DDR SDRAM provides 800 MBps or 1 GBps data transfer
| depending on whether the bus is 100 MHz or 133 MHz. It
| doubles the rate to 1.6 GBps and 2.1 GBps by transferring
| data on both the rising and falling edges of the clock.
| DDR SDRAM uses additional power and ground lines and
| requires 184-pin 2.5V unbuffered DIMM module rather than
| the 168-pin 3.3V unbuffered DIMMs used by SDRAM.

The bus speed on the board is set to 100 MHz, which I guess would make
PC-1600 the minimum required RAM? (I would likely get at least PC-2100,
as that's the max the board can handle, it's more available than
something slower.)

Ok, at this point, I'm thinking that I can fill *at most* two sockets
with memory modules, whose total capacity cannot exceed 1GB. Then I
read this:

| Installation Procedure
| The mainboard accommodates three memory modules. You must
| install at least one module in any of the three slots. Each
| module can be installed with up to 1GB system memory.

What? I can install three memory modules?

I'll likely recommend, to the owner of this system, that they buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141437

That would make the considerations about using both slot types, but I'm
curious as to what the board really can do, nonetheless.

Thanks.
 
Grinder said:
I'm working an older PCChips motherboard, a M920LR. I can put the
manual up for you if you're interested--it's not easy to find online.
At any rate I'm trying to figure out what memory the machine can take.

The introduction to the board says this:

| Memory Support
| The mainboard accommodates 2 DDR + 2 SDR 168 pin,
| 3.3V DIMM sockets with a total capacity of 1 GB
| system memory.

Here's the bit in the manual about installing memory:

| Installing Memory Modules
| This mainboard accommodates 168-pin 3.3V/184-pin 2.5V
| unbuffered SDRAM memory modules. The memory chips must
| be standard or registered SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic
| Random Access Memory).
|
| The CPU supports 100MHz system bus. The SDRAM DIMMs
| and DDRs can synchronously work with 100 MHz or operates
| over a 133 MHz system bus.
|
| You must install at least one memory module in order to
| use the mainboard, and *you can only use one of the both
| SDRAM and DDR SDRAM at the same time.*

What the hell? Does this mean that I can use 1 SDR socket and 1 DDR
socket at the same time, but not both?

| DDR SDRAM provides 800 MBps or 1 GBps data transfer
| depending on whether the bus is 100 MHz or 133 MHz. It
| doubles the rate to 1.6 GBps and 2.1 GBps by transferring
| data on both the rising and falling edges of the clock.
| DDR SDRAM uses additional power and ground lines and
| requires 184-pin 2.5V unbuffered DIMM module rather than
| the 168-pin 3.3V unbuffered DIMMs used by SDRAM.

The bus speed on the board is set to 100 MHz, which I guess would make
PC-1600 the minimum required RAM? (I would likely get at least PC-2100,
as that's the max the board can handle, it's more available than
something slower.)

Ok, at this point, I'm thinking that I can fill *at most* two sockets
with memory modules, whose total capacity cannot exceed 1GB. Then I
read this:

| Installation Procedure
| The mainboard accommodates three memory modules. You must
| install at least one module in any of the three slots. Each
| module can be installed with up to 1GB system memory.

What? I can install three memory modules?

I'll likely recommend, to the owner of this system, that they buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141437

That would make the considerations about using both slot types, but I'm
curious as to what the board really can do, nonetheless.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
go to crucial.com and take a look at what they recommend, max of 2. I
suspect the mention of 3 slots is an error when they updated the manual
from a 3 slot SDRAM one to a 4 slot dual one.
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=M920LR
 
I'm working an older PCChips motherboard, a M920LR. I can put the
manual up for you if you're interested--it's not easy to find online.
At any rate I'm trying to figure out what memory the machine can take.

The introduction to the board says this:

| Memory Support
| The mainboard accommodates 2 DDR + 2 SDR 168 pin,
| 3.3V DIMM sockets with a total capacity of 1 GB
| system memory.

Here's the bit in the manual about installing memory:

| Installing Memory Modules
| This mainboard accommodates 168-pin 3.3V/184-pin 2.5V
| unbuffered SDRAM memory modules. The memory chips must
| be standard or registered SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic
| Random Access Memory).
|
| The CPU supports 100MHz system bus. The SDRAM DIMMs
| and DDRs can synchronously work with 100 MHz or operates
| over a 133 MHz system bus.
|
| You must install at least one memory module in order to
| use the mainboard, and *you can only use one of the both
| SDRAM and DDR SDRAM at the same time.*

What the hell? Does this mean that I can use 1 SDR socket and 1 DDR
socket at the same time, but not both?
Click to expand...

No, you can use SDR or DDR, but not both.

I suggest using PC3200 if you have to buy some today.
| DDR SDRAM provides 800 MBps or 1 GBps data transfer
| depending on whether the bus is 100 MHz or 133 MHz. It
| doubles the rate to 1.6 GBps and 2.1 GBps by transferring
| data on both the rising and falling edges of the clock.
| DDR SDRAM uses additional power and ground lines and
| requires 184-pin 2.5V unbuffered DIMM module rather than
| the 168-pin 3.3V unbuffered DIMMs used by SDRAM.

The bus speed on the board is set to 100 MHz, which I guess would make
PC-1600 the minimum required RAM? (I would likely get at least PC-2100,
as that's the max the board can handle, it's more available than
something slower.)
Click to expand...

The FSB is quad-pumped so it can take advantage of faster
than PC1600 memory. It can run the memory bus at least at
133MHz as DDR, so yes PC2100 would be acceptible, BUT today
you can get PC3200 which is backwards compatible and may
allow running at CAS2, while PC2100 CAS2 memory might
command a price premium still. Actually, even DDR1/PC3200
isn't cheap these days, if you're thinking of adding a
couple gig of memory it might be as well to just buy a new
board and processor that takes DDR2 instead.

Ok, at this point, I'm thinking that I can fill *at most* two sockets
with memory modules, whose total capacity cannot exceed 1GB. Then I
read this:

| Installation Procedure
| The mainboard accommodates three memory modules. You must
| install at least one module in any of the three slots. Each
| module can be installed with up to 1GB system memory.

What? I can install three memory modules?
Click to expand...

A small picture I saw makes it look like there's two of each
slot.

Just forget about the manual (poor engrish) and look at the
board. You can see which slots are DDR or SDR. It can only
use one type at a time, with one or both of that type's
slots populated.




I'll likely recommend, to the owner of this system, that they buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141437

That would make the considerations about using both slot types, but I'm
curious as to what the board really can do, nonetheless.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

That should work.
 
*snip* like Kony says

either SDRAM or DDRRAM but not both together.

use any DDR you like up to PC3200 but it'll only run at 133mhz
ie PC2100 speed

if you even consider putting 2gb of RAM I have to assume some serious use is
intended
and if thats the case - ditch the cheap-ass PCChimps board and get something
half decent
or when you get stability problems you wont know if its the RAM or the
board.
 
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