2 gigs (4x512mb) of dual channel patriot ram in this board?

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:57 pm

Does anybody know if I can do this? because I just ordered my computer and i'm getting conflicting review on it around that I can't use more than two slots for dual channel or even all 4 dimms at the same time anyway. if this is the case, I"m going to send it back when I get it. would somebody please tell me the truth on this. -Dgood

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:59 pm

The board being a chaintech nforce4 ultra that was reviewed here recently.

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:02 pm

I don't have any experience with four DIMM's, but I don't see any reason why it should not work. Just make sure you have the settings correct in the BIOS and that you have a revision E processor

You may have to run 2T command rate though.

I owned that board for quite a while and I really liked it. Probably one of the best motherboards I have ever used actually! The overclocking potential is a little limited, but it is still a very good board, especially for the price!

oh yeah...

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:03 pm

well I hope so, because on newegg.com in the board review one guy claims teh manual says it won't work. But I will try none the less, plus i have to update the bios I believe in order to get teh dual channel working on that board anyway. would you konw about that btw?

Post by **FZ1** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:03 pm

I think this is posted in the wrong forum...

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:05 pm

Vstrom wrote:I think this is posted in the wrong forum...

Yeah, true, didn't even notice actually

Should be posted in AMD motherboard section...

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:11 pm

dgood wrote:well I hope so, because on newegg.com in the board review one guy claims teh manual says it won't work. But I will try none the less, plus i have to update the bios I believe in order to get teh dual channel working on that board anyway. would you konw about that btw?

Actually, I still have the manual for this board and I just checked and there is a little note at the top of one of the pages that says,

Due to CPU specifications limitation, two DDR400 memory modules inserted into DIMM1/3, three DDR400 into DIMM1/2/3, or four DDR400 into DIMM1/2/3/4 is not recommended

The key word in here is "CPU specifications limitation". It does not say that the motherboard will not support it, but rather that the on-die memory controller of the Athlon64 may not support it. Which I am pretty sure is the case with Newcastles and Winchesters, but the new Venice, San Diego, Manchester, and Toledo core processors should be able to do it. Which processor are you getting?

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:13 pm

I ordered a 4000+ san diego to go in this board so i'll take that as it should work and thank you for helping me. I put the post up in the correct forum now.

Kerii · Post by **Kerii** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:31 pm

Might help if you gave us the link or name of the board so we can see it for ourselves.

If the memory slots are color coded into two sets, that's probably a good sign that it can do dual channel with 4 RAM sticks. And yeah, as gvblake mentioned, using more than two sticks on an AMD board will probably force you to run in 2T mode which hurts performance a little, doesn't matter as much on an Intel board (I think...).

I said "probably force you", because 1T with 4 sticks are possible, as DFI proved with this board:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2572&p=5

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:50 pm

what does that mean and how does it hurt performance

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:58 pm

dgood wrote:what does that mean and how does it hurt performance

Here is a good article on how memory timings and the command rate affect the performance of a high end Athlon64 system:
http://techreport.com/etc/2005q4/mem-la ... dex.x?pg=1

techreport wrote:Conclusions:
Although tighter memory timings and a 1T command rate can certainly improve the performance of the Athlon 64's memory subsystem, that improvement doesn't always translate to better application performance.

Kerii · Post by **Kerii** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:38 pm

Well, after going through the manual here, I found no mention AT ALL about dual channel other than: "Supports Dual Channel DDR266/333/400 memory", so I don't know what that guy on NewEgg is talking about, maybe he's just making it up, who knows.

All other factors considered, excluding the guy on NewEgg (don't always trust them, there's a lotta raving lunatics on there), your board should fully support dual channel with 4 DIMMs.

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:53 pm

Kerii, check the little note at the top of page 14 in that .pdf manual. It says something about not recommending the use of four DIMMS in slots 1/2/3/4 due to a CPU specification. I am assuming this is for the pre-revision E AMD's (winchester).

Kerii · Post by **Kerii** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:20 pm

Manual wrote:Due to CPU specifications limitation, two DDR400 memory modules
inserted into DIMM1/3, three DDR400 into DIMM1/2/3, or four DDR400
into DIMM1/2/3/4 is not recommended.

Well, that would be the fault of the processor and not the board right?

I think dgood will be fine since he's getting a San Diego.

Strangely enough, I couldn't find that note on page 14, it was on page 8 for me, or page 20 according to Acrobat Reader. Are we looking at the same thing? lol

Edit: Nevermind, page 20 on Acrobat Reader was page 14 of the manual, lol.

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:00 am

Yeah, I think it is processor related because the motherboard/chipset doesn't have the memory controller! It is all integrated on-chip in the Athlon64 now. So Yeah, just get a San Diego or Venice or Manchester or Toledo and you should be good to go

Legit Reviews

2 gigs (4x512mb) of dual channel patriot ram in this board?

2 gigs (4x512mb) of dual channel patriot ram in this board?

Thank you

Re: Thank you

4000+ san diego

1t and 2t?

Re: 1t and 2t?

Re: The site I got it from and the exact model.