RAM Saga Cont:d [Dual Channel]

  • Thread starter Thread starter Johanna
  • Start date Start date
J

Johanna

Continuation of this thread: "Re: Help! I already ordered the RAM Was
it right?"
-----------------------
Oh! Can't believe I didn't spot that!
The one I bought is 1x1GB not 2x512. I see what you mean. This is not
so good.......

(Don't worry, I didn't buy on eBay - too many crooks for my taste
there..... I bought here (spec for the RAM):)
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=7137&category_id=107

I was totally focused on getting all the other details right, and I
suppose I jumped to the conclusion that all 1GB configurations were sold
as a pairs of 512 mbs...

I have a vague understanding about what you are talking about, e.g. that
I have to fill up two nearby slots with identical RAM in order to take
advantage of Dual Channel.
But I am not sure exactly what the advantages are, and how it works -
just that it is better.

This would mean that I would have rather idiotic setup if I installed
this new RAM, namely:
1x 1 GB OCZ
1x 512 Mb Samsung
1x 512 Mb [unknown brand that I bought at PC World]

So the Machine would have a luxurious 2MB of RAM, but in the worst
possible combination!

What are your thoughts about this? Would I still see a benefit when
working in memory-hungry apps?

Also, I was considering taking one of the 512MB slots and put back in my
retired Shuttle, which I am refurbishing for my Grandmother. (as an
offline audio book reader and occasional 'type-writer'!)

If I did that, I'd have 1.5 GB using 2 slots....

Maybe the only sensible choice is to order another identical 1GB OCZ and
get up to 2GB in that way.
But I wasn't going to spend much on this....!! Sigh!
Jo
 
Johanna said:
I was totally focused on getting all the other details right, and
I suppose I jumped to the conclusion that all 1GB configurations
were sold as a pairs of 512 mbs...
Click to expand...

So you are buying 1 GB of RAM to replace the 1 GB of RAM you already
have? You think that dual channel is going to significantly increase
performance?

I told you that your system isn't going to run faster until
applications use up the first 1 GB of RAM during a session. That
means you need more than 1 GB to realize a benefit over the 1 GB you
already have.

For what it's worth. You might want to keep further episodes of the
saga in this thread.

Good luck.
 
Johanna said:
Continuation of this thread: "Re: Help! I already ordered the RAM Was it
right?"
-----------------------
Oh! Can't believe I didn't spot that!
The one I bought is 1x1GB not 2x512. I see what you mean. This is not
so good.......

(Don't worry, I didn't buy on eBay - too many crooks for my taste
there..... I bought here (spec for the RAM):)
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=7137&category_id=107

I was totally focused on getting all the other details right, and I
suppose I jumped to the conclusion that all 1GB configurations were sold
as a pairs of 512 mbs...

I have a vague understanding about what you are talking about, e.g. that I
have to fill up two nearby slots with identical RAM in order to take
advantage of Dual Channel.
But I am not sure exactly what the advantages are, and how it works - just
that it is better.

This would mean that I would have rather idiotic setup if I installed this
new RAM, namely:
1x 1 GB OCZ
1x 512 Mb Samsung
1x 512 Mb [unknown brand that I bought at PC World]

So the Machine would have a luxurious 2MB of RAM, but in the worst
possible combination!

What are your thoughts about this? Would I still see a benefit when
working in memory-hungry apps?

Also, I was considering taking one of the 512MB slots and put back in my
retired Shuttle, which I am refurbishing for my Grandmother. (as an
offline audio book reader and occasional 'type-writer'!)

If I did that, I'd have 1.5 GB using 2 slots....

Maybe the only sensible choice is to order another identical 1GB OCZ and
get up to 2GB in that way.
But I wasn't going to spend much on this....!! Sigh!
Jo
Click to expand...

Don't worry too much about the dual-channel aspect, it makes next to no
difference. That's why I didn't mention it when I replied to you previously.
You are talking about a difference that you would only see if you ran enough
benchmarks.

HTH
SteveH
 
Johanna said:
Continuation of this thread: "Re: Help! I already ordered the RAM Was
it right?"
-----------------------
Oh! Can't believe I didn't spot that!
The one I bought is 1x1GB not 2x512. I see what you mean. This is not
so good.......

(Don't worry, I didn't buy on eBay - too many crooks for my taste
there..... I bought here (spec for the RAM):)
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=7137&category_id=107

I was totally focused on getting all the other details right, and I
suppose I jumped to the conclusion that all 1GB configurations were sold
as a pairs of 512 mbs...

I have a vague understanding about what you are talking about, e.g. that
I have to fill up two nearby slots with identical RAM in order to take
advantage of Dual Channel.
But I am not sure exactly what the advantages are, and how it works -
just that it is better.

This would mean that I would have rather idiotic setup if I installed
this new RAM, namely:
1x 1 GB OCZ
1x 512 Mb Samsung
1x 512 Mb [unknown brand that I bought at PC World]

So the Machine would have a luxurious 2MB of RAM, but in the worst
possible combination!

What are your thoughts about this? Would I still see a benefit when
working in memory-hungry apps?

Also, I was considering taking one of the 512MB slots and put back in my
retired Shuttle, which I am refurbishing for my Grandmother. (as an
offline audio book reader and occasional 'type-writer'!)

If I did that, I'd have 1.5 GB using 2 slots....

Maybe the only sensible choice is to order another identical 1GB OCZ and
get up to 2GB in that way.
But I wasn't going to spend much on this....!! Sigh!
Jo
Click to expand...

If I couldn't change a thing with regard to the purchase, I would
run 2x512MB. The thing is, if you use three sticks, not only will
you end up in single channel mode (which isn't all bad), but you
will take a beating on clock rate/command rate, and either drop
to DDR400 Command Rate 2T or DDR333 Command Rate 1T (of which the
first condition is better).

Running 1x512 + 1x1GB would leave you in single channel (one stick
in slot a1, one stick in slot b1, for one stick per bus and one
load per bus), but you get the opportunity to run DDR400 at whatever
Command Rate it will take.

Since you now have plenty of sticks to play with, you can
benchmark using tools you normally use, and decide for yourself
just how important this is. If you cannot notice the difference,
then the problem is solved.

Maybe based on your testing of the single 1GB module you are
about to receive, you can decide whether you want another stick
of the OCZ or not. So there is no immediate rush to fix the
situation.

Remember that memtest86 (memtest.org) is for testing before you
boot your OS with the new memory in place. And Prime95
(mersenne.org) torture test, is for acceptance testing
after the OS is booted. The use of memtest86 first, is
to weed out obviously bad RAM, while Prime95 seems to
uncover flaky hardware better. I have had one poster, who
did use memtest86, only to be greeted by a corrupted OS
once he booted, so an error free memtest86 test result
(two passes minimum) is not a guarantee.

Paul
 
To operate your system's RAM in Dual Channel Mode, you need to use 2
identical sticks of RAM. I would recommend getting the 2nd stick of 1 GB
OCZ RAM of the SAME SPECIFICATIONS as the first one. Do not use the other
sticks then.
 
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