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From: Lee M. on 23 Apr 2008 13:20
I have two 512MB sticks of Kingston PC3200 RAM. One is KVR400/512R and the
other is KVR400X64C3A/512. One has 1 rank/4 banks and the other has 2
ranks/4 banks. Other than that, the specs appear identical and they coexist
fine in my socket A mobo with nForce2-400 chipset. I'm think of getting a
3rd 512MB stick. Any reason to pick one over the other?

Thanks.


From: Paul on 23 Apr 2008 13:35
Lee M. wrote:
> I have two 512MB sticks of Kingston PC3200 RAM. One is KVR400/512R and the
> other is KVR400X64C3A/512. One has 1 rank/4 banks and the other has 2
> ranks/4 banks. Other than that, the specs appear identical and they coexist
> fine in my socket A mobo with nForce2-400 chipset. I'm think of getting a
> 3rd 512MB stick. Any reason to pick one over the other?
>
> Thanks.
>

Nforce2 apparently has independent controls for the three slots.
At least in the sense of handling different row/column/rank/bank
for each slot. The CAS for all slots will be set to the worst
CAS of the three sticks.

For dual channel operation, the total RAM in each channel must be
equal. The sticks don't have to match. For example, you could
use 512MB + 512MB on one channel (the channel with two slots),
and place a 1GB module in the remaining slot (which is on the
second channel).

If buying 1GB modules, don't buy them from Ebay. Ebay has a lot
of DDR 1GB modules with "high density" chips (128Mx4). Modules
that work with Nforce2 use sixteen 64Mx8 chips instead.

If you buy the "high density" kind of 1GB module by mistake, it
will report 512MB when plugged into Nforce2.

Nforce2 appears to have another limit. Some people are reporting
resource allocation problems in the BIOS when using 3x1GB modules
(even modules with 64Mx8 chips). The maximum recommended memory
at the moment, is less than or equal to 2GB for Nforce2. So, in
fact, placing your existing 2x512MB on one channel, and buying
a 1GB module for the remaining slot, is your last upgrade opportunity.

Normally, branded memory uses 64Mx8 chips, for best compatibility.
If you buy your 1GB module from Kingston or Crucial, then chances
are you'll get something appropriate.

Paul
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