P4P800 Dual Channel Memory Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Eric Wolfe
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Eric Wolfe

Hello,

I am hoping someone can give me some guidance about what RAM to buy for a
two new P4P800 motherboards.

I want to run W2K and Photoshop and to take advantage of dual channel
memory. I've been to the Asus site:

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4p800/overview.htm

but the specs there don't seem to pair up with the very limited descriptions
given by most vendors. I would like to equip both boards with a total of
1GB of DDR to start with and when the larger size memory chips become
available move the memory from the first machine to the second (giving it a
total of 2GB) and then equip the first machine with the maximum of 4GB. It
seems I need what Asus refers to as:

"C*- supports for 4 modules inserted into the blue black slots as two pairs
of Dual-channel memory configuration."

I'm not likely to OC the machines and I am on a budget so I'd like to buy
the lowest price ram that's likely to work in the P4P800. The Asus site
lists these modules as

512MB Apacer 77.10736.464 SAMSUNG DS K4H560838D-TCC4

512MB Transcend TS64MLD64V4F3 Mosel DS V58C2256804S AT5

512MB Winbond W9451GCDB-5 Winbond DS W942508CH-5

512MB SAMSUNG M368L6423ETM-CCC SAMSUNG DS K4H560838E-TCCC

512MB Hynix HYMD264646B8J-D43 AA Hynix DS HY5DU56822 BT-D43

I'm hoping someone can point me to a reliable, low cost retailer in the US
for 512MB modules that will fit my needs.

TIA,

Eric
 
I would stay away from Samsung RAM. They have funny specs labeling.
If your an American, you'll have a hardtime finding Hynix RAM, since the USA
Govt puts tarriffs on it.

I know nothing about the other three. I put the part number I wanted in
Yahoo.com and it brought back a bunch of sites selling it. I narrowed it
down and got 2 512MB sticks for $220. Goodluck with yours.
 
Eric Wolfe said:
Hello,

I am hoping someone can give me some guidance about what RAM to buy for a
two new P4P800 motherboards.

I want to run W2K and Photoshop and to take advantage of dual channel
memory. I've been to the Asus site:

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4p800/overview.htm

but the specs there don't seem to pair up with the very limited descriptions
given by most vendors. I would like to equip both boards with a total of
1GB of DDR to start with and when the larger size memory chips become
available move the memory from the first machine to the second (giving it a
total of 2GB) and then equip the first machine with the maximum of 4GB. It
seems I need what Asus refers to as:

"C*- supports for 4 modules inserted into the blue black slots as two pairs
of Dual-channel memory configuration."

I'm not likely to OC the machines and I am on a budget so I'd like to buy
the lowest price ram that's likely to work in the P4P800. The Asus site
lists these modules as

512MB Apacer 77.10736.464 SAMSUNG DS K4H560838D-TCC4

512MB Transcend TS64MLD64V4F3 Mosel DS V58C2256804S AT5

512MB Winbond W9451GCDB-5 Winbond DS W942508CH-5

512MB SAMSUNG M368L6423ETM-CCC SAMSUNG DS K4H560838E-TCCC

512MB Hynix HYMD264646B8J-D43 AA Hynix DS HY5DU56822 BT-D43

I'm hoping someone can point me to a reliable, low cost retailer in the US
for 512MB modules that will fit my needs.

TIA,

Eric
Click to expand...
I've got two 512MB TwinMOS modules in my Pc4800 Deluxe.
Inexpensive and works just fine.
I'm in UK but googling TwinMos reveals lots of US connections

Lonny
 
that indicated I could use four sticks of 512MB RAM to reach a total of 2GB.
A lot of modules don't appear to work in all four slots.
Click to expand...

Get 2 sticks of the PC3200 Blue from Mushkin (www.mushkin.com). Good
price, great RAM, and probably the best company you'll ever deal with.
 
Rumor mill has it, some Motherboard companys favor some RAM companys in
design and BIOS settings. Like if there is no JEDEC standard for a RAM
chip, then what does the Motherboard/BIOs company set their "auto" feature
timings at? Oh mercy me! This can be confusing. Never use RAM auto
feature. This is why some folks say to never use "auto" in the RAM
settings. I don't wanna spread bad rumors. So please ignore what I'm about
to say. "I saw Asus hanging out by the water fountain with Corsair." If
that's a bad rumor, let me know, so I can spread the good rumor. Their is a
good rumor? Or are all these tech companys in somekind of nudist colony?

I do not use Corsair. And for full disclosure, I favor and bought Kingston
and own absolutely no stock, whatsoever. Except my 401k and now I must
liquidate that to buy a P4C00-E. I have to slow my Kingston down, they say
its too aggressive. Gggrrr, I'll show them TOO AGGRESSIVE! Spend a weekend
with an unstable pc and you get a little tempermental.

Goodluck
 
I am not a seller of RAM as other posts seem to be. Sorry, but I'm tired of
doing a search and only seeing ebay and other offshore sellers.

I got talked into buying Kingston RAM 2 x 256 KVR400x64c25/256. The
automatic setting will not overclock. Haven't tried manual setting as my
system died after last BIOS update.

ASUS have a list of recomended RAM but I wish I had paid a bit more for the
Corsair.

Murray
 
M said:
I am not a seller of RAM as other posts seem to be. Sorry, but I'm tired of
doing a search and only seeing ebay and other offshore sellers.
Click to expand...

I guess you mates don't get a fair suck of the sav like we Seppos do when it
comes to having lots of choices in RAM vendors.

I have been trying to stick to dealers that I know, searching for exactly
the components that ASUS's site claims to work in the P4P800. After a
number of tedious and unproductive searches with Yahoo and Google I
discovered that one of my "marginal" vendors (ComputerGate) carries the
exact spec RAM (Apacer):

512MB Apacer 77.10736.464 SAMSUNG DS K4H560838D-TCC4

that ASUS lists as compatible in all four slots. I am going to go with
that, even though it's Samsung, because it's the only thing I could find
that exactly matched the listing on the P4P800 page and I've dealt with them
(mostly successfully - except for getting a used MB - with leaky capacitors
as new) before.
I got talked into buying Kingston RAM 2 x 256 KVR400x64c25/256. The
automatic setting will not overclock.
Click to expand...

I don't think I'll be overclocking. I feel lucky enough to get the stuff to
work as advertised!
Haven't tried manual setting as my
system died after last BIOS update.
Click to expand...

In the words of Bill the Cat: "Gack!" My last BIOS fiasco was with a
GigaByte Dual BIOS machine that booted, somehow, to an old version and
completely hosed my NT installation. That and a number of other interesting
problems with the GigaByte board brought me back to ASUS because I have 3
P5A's that have worked from the beginning without incident. You can't argue
with success.
ASUS have a list of recomended RAM but I wish I had paid a bit more for the
Corsair.
Click to expand...

I agree that Corsair is the way to go if you are going to overclock but I am
trying to build two machines on a *very* tight budget and with the large
amounts of memory I want, Corsair breaks the bank. I have used Apacer RAM
in two of the P5A's without any incident. I am willing to take a chance on
them - although the Mushkin stuff looks interesting - IIRC, it's not on the
ASUS list.

Thanks for your input. Ooroo, mate!

Eric
 
BNR said:
Rumor mill has it, some Motherboard companys favor some RAM companys in
design and BIOS settings. Like if there is no JEDEC standard for a RAM
chip, then what does the Motherboard/BIOs company set their "auto" feature
timings at? Oh mercy me! This can be confusing.
Click to expand...

Confusing is far too mild a word for it. I don't recall ever having to do
as much research as I have done for this P4P800 purchase. I decided to
switch back to Intel after burning up a AMD CPU due to a heat sink failure.
User error, to be sure, but a Pentium just slows down when it overheats
while I've learned that an AMD lets all its magic smoke out. Very poor
design to my way of thinking. It worries me that most of the posts here are
still AMD CPU-related. There is strength in numbers. I chose an Intel
platform for its alleged superiority in running Photoshop. We'll see.
Never use RAM auto feature. This is why some folks say to
never use "auto" in the RAM settings. I don't wanna spread bad
rumors. So please ignore what I'm about to say.
Click to expand...

If you insist . . . :-)
"I saw Asus hanging out by the water fountain with Corsair." If
that's a bad rumor, let me know, so I can spread the good
rumor.
Click to expand...

But they only recommend one Corsair module on their site:

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4p800-d/overview.htm

and even then it's not suitable for all four banks. That worries me.
Their is a good rumor? Or are all these tech companys in
somekind of nudist colony?
Click to expand...

Every time I crack up a shrink wrapped mobo I look at it for a long time in
amazement wondering why the bloody things work at all. I wonder if anyone
ever counted up the man years of engineering that a typical modern mobo
represents. I would think it makes the Space Shuttle look simple. I just
junked an old XT populated with discrete IC's and 16K RAM chips. We've come
a long way baby. It's probably natural that there's some sort of collusion
between mobo makers and memory makers and that clear lines of favoritism
evolve.
I do not use Corsair. And for full disclosure, I favor and bought Kingston
and own absolutely no stock, whatsoever. Except my 401k and now I must
liquidate that to buy a P4C00-E. I have to slow my Kingston down, they say
its too aggressive. Gggrrr, I'll show them TOO AGGRESSIVE! Spend a weekend
with an unstable pc and you get a little tempermental.
Click to expand...

I'm not looking forward to that angst of nursing a twitchy mobo to life. My
biggest kick is when I plug in the CPU, the RAM and the AGP card and it
comes to life without a hiccup. I am afraid those days are long gone.
There hasn't been a machine I have built in the last couple of years that
hasn't had some serious sort of bootup issue. In one case I had to buy a
slow Duron to boot the machine far enough to flash it to a later BIOS to
accept the Athalon that my vendor *swore* would work.
Goodluck
Click to expand...

Thanks - hopefully I won't need dumptrucks full of luck and sweat to get the
P4P800 working,

Eric
 
Jacque_Strapp said:
There's also a 10% off coupon right now, type 'ROJAK' (without the
quotes, all caps) in the coupon code box. I just got 2x512meg PC3500
sticks.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but it's not an ASUS vetted memory. I am reluctant to take my
chances if it's not on the ASUS list.

Eric
 
I've just recently upgraded to a P4P800-D with a 2.4c HT CPU and two sticks
of Hynix 512Mb Dimms. All went without a hitch - great motherboard, and the
two 512Mb are in the blue slots in dual channel mode. I am in Canada, but I
bought everything from Infonec:
http://www.infonec.com/mboard.htm
Scroll down to the Standard Regular DDR, the PC400 PC-3200 no-name brand
sticks for $115cdn are the Hynix sticks (you could call them to make sure -
since their supply varies). Try them, I don't know if they send to the
states - but remember its all in Canadian prices - so you'll get an even
better deal!!

Good Luck,
William
 
Eric Wolfe said:
Thanks, but it's not an ASUS vetted memory. I am reluctant to take my
chances if it's not on the ASUS list.

Eric
Click to expand...

Even if it does not work Mushkin will work with you. I would bet they
would take it back and refund you without much trouble. It is highly
unlikely that it will not work.

Eric
 
Well, I just ordered a gig of it for a P4P800 that is coming from
Newegg, so if you want to hold off for a few days I can post back here
with my experience.
Click to expand...

That sounds good. Thanks. I am going to wait until I feel I have figured
out this DDR stuff completely to buy the parts (and the prices are
continually dropping, too!).

Are you going to get two 512MB modules? If so, that might still not answer
my question because the Asus sites implies that while many vendors make RAM
that will work fine in two slots, the modules vetted for dual channel use in
all four slots are significantly fewer. Seems to be something to do with
dual banking.
Also, although Asus hasn't tested Mushkin RAM on this board, Mushkin
themselves have:
Click to expand...
http://www.mushkin.com/cgi-bin/Mushkin.storefront/3f01bb05084c6000273fc0a801
030527/Product/View/990880#asusp4p800

Very useful information. Thanks muchly!

Eric
 
Eric Witte said:
Even if it does not work Mushkin will work with you. I would bet they
would take it back and refund you without much trouble. It is highly
unlikely that it will not work.

Eric
Click to expand...

This reminds of a Monty Python skit. Eric, meet Eric.

Anyway, it sounds like Mushkin is a class outfit. I am going to send them
an E-mail describing my situation and see what they say. If they are
competitive, pricewise, I may, indeed, give them a shot.

Eric
 
Eric Wolfe said:
This reminds of a Monty Python skit. Eric, meet Eric.

Anyway, it sounds like Mushkin is a class outfit. I am going to send them
an E-mail describing my situation and see what they say. If they are
competitive, pricewise, I may, indeed, give them a shot.

Eric
Click to expand...

Using the coupon earlier in the thread I got a Dual Pack of 512MB
PC3500 CL2 for $243 + $9 shipping.

Eric
 
Jacque_Strapp said:
Also, although Asus hasn't tested Mushkin RAM on this board, Mushkin
themselves have:
Click to expand...
http://www.mushkin.com/cgi-bin/Mushkin.storefront/3f01bb05084c6000273fc0a801
030527/Product/View/990880#asusp4p800

Sorry, that URL comes back with:

"You are viewing this page because of a bad link or bookmark. If you used a
bookmark, please go to our homepage and create a new bookmark."

I'll try a manual search via Google restricted to that domain.

Hmm, still no luck. Odd . . .

OK found it here:

http://www.mushkin.com/epages/Mushkin.storefront/3f0445570475d1a4273fc0a8010
505f4/Product/View/990880#asusp4p800

And now I am more confused than ever! They say:

"All stability tests were performed at room temperature with a minimum of 2
DIMM slots populated with 128 MB DIMMs for a total system memory of 256 MB
running Windows98 in a fully loaded system, including sound and network.
Only boards that ran 5 loops of ContentCreation Winstone 2001, Sysmark2000,
Rage "Expendable timedemo" and Quake 3 Arena Demo001 without crashes are
considered."

Not heartwarming considering that I want to run 2GB of memory using 512MB
modules. :-(

Eric
 
That sounds good. Thanks. I am going to wait until I feel I have figured
out this DDR stuff completely to buy the parts (and the prices are
continually dropping, too!).

Are you going to get two 512MB modules? If so, that might still not answer
my question because the Asus sites implies that while many vendors make RAM
that will work fine in two slots, the modules vetted for dual channel use in
all four slots are significantly fewer. Seems to be something to do with
dual banking.
Click to expand...

I did get 2 512 meg modules and they are both running fine right this
second at DDR400, memory timings 2-3-3-7.

I would just get the Mushkin. By all accounts their customer service
is fantastic, I'm sure they'd take the RAM back if it doesn't work. I
sincerely doubt that it won't, though. The ASUS approved RAM list for
this mobo is wildly inaccurate IMHO, I've read comments by people who
are running modules that ASUS says they shouldn't be able to run (1
guy has 2x 512 meg Kingston HyperX) and have no complaints. Check out
the Intel Chipset forum at:

www.abxzone.com

and search for 'P4P800 RAM' or something and you should see what I'm
talking about. The modules on the ASUS list will certainly work, but
they aren't the ONLY ones that will work (obviously, because here I am
typing to you on my new machine which has 2 unapproved DIMMs in it).
 
I'm no memory expert. But I thought I'd pipe in and say something anyway.
These are approved modules for the initial BIOS, from what I can tell it
hasn't changed whatsoever, although the BIOS versions have. It should be
updated, but Asus is lazy, this is mute. As more and more DDR becomes
standardized, Asus will need to modify its BIOS to accomdate these changes.
I think Asus has the most flexible BIOs outthere in this regard. I think
DRAM comes out much faster than motherboards. I doubt that they have the
time to review these new ones. Sometimes a mom and pop reviewer site can
help in this regard, because they have taken the plunge for you already.
Although these sites do not use overthecounter modules. Try writing Asus
about it, directly. Or calling them. As their website and memory manu
sites are vague on this topic.
 
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