Somebody gave me a bunch of 4 GiB DDR2-800 DIMMs because
"they don't work in anything"
They are PCW brand. Now 4 GiB DDR2 was usually only found in servers.
In the days of DDR2, I never came across desktop modules this size.
I believe the Phenom II could drive these if put in an AM2+ board.
Could any Intel chipsets function with 4 GiB sticks?
They could be registered, rather than regular unbuffered DIMMs.
Registered is used on servers.
Registered has the extra, different looking chips in the center.
Typically two different chips on one side, in the center, and
one different chip in the center on the other side. (The chips
are address/command registers, and a PLL clock buffer. At least
they used to be, years ago. I don't know if every generation
of memory chips uses the same ideas or not.)
http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2004/11/11/intel/ddr2.jpg
If it is registered, you can check your motherboard manual
for details about what types of memory it supports.
Do not mix memory types. The BIOS should reinforce that,
and the BIOS will beep for an unsupported memory type,
as well as beep if you mix incompatible types.
If you want to test, start with just one registered DIMM
all by itself. Modern AMD processors, no longer have a
slot preference for virtual single channel mode, so you
should be able to test it in any slot you want. If the
computer case speaker beeps, with the one registered
DIMM installed, then you have your answer.
Paul
