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From: Nick Boyce on 20 Feb 2007 21:37
I have an NF7-S v2 system, with an Athlon XP 2600 (Barton) and 512 Mb
Corsair ValueSelect CAS 3-3-3-8 RAM. It all works perfectly well (no
overclocking) but I'd like to add another 512 Mb RAM.

The closest match in the stock list of my usual supplier is a 512 MB
stick of Corsair ValueSelect CAS 2.5 RAM - and I'm wondering whether
there's any problem with mixing the latencies like that.

The first 512Mb is 2x256Mb installed in the first two slots with Dual
Channel mode enabled, and I'd plan to leave them there and put the new
DIMM in the third slot.

Does anyone know of any reason why this marriage should not take place
:-) ?

TIA
Nick Boyce
From: Dylan C on 20 Feb 2007 23:03
Nick Boyce wrote:
> I have an NF7-S v2 system, with an Athlon XP 2600 (Barton) and 512 Mb
> Corsair ValueSelect CAS 3-3-3-8 RAM. It all works perfectly well (no
> overclocking) but I'd like to add another 512 Mb RAM.
>
> The closest match in the stock list of my usual supplier is a 512 MB
> stick of Corsair ValueSelect CAS 2.5 RAM - and I'm wondering whether
> there's any problem with mixing the latencies like that.
>
> The first 512Mb is 2x256Mb installed in the first two slots with Dual
> Channel mode enabled, and I'd plan to leave them there and put the new
> DIMM in the third slot.
>
> Does anyone know of any reason why this marriage should not take place
> :-) ?
>
> TIA
> Nick Boyce
shouldnt be a problem....just that both sticks will run at the slower speed.

-Dylan C
From: Vanguard on 20 Feb 2007 23:10
"Nick Boyce" <nick(a)glimmer.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:86bnt210da6sajuc4l517ogltfb3u128bl(a)4ax.com...
>I have an NF7-S v2 system, with an Athlon XP 2600 (Barton) and 512 Mb
> Corsair ValueSelect CAS 3-3-3-8 RAM. It all works perfectly well (no
> overclocking) but I'd like to add another 512 Mb RAM.
>
> The closest match in the stock list of my usual supplier is a 512 MB
> stick of Corsair ValueSelect CAS 2.5 RAM - and I'm wondering whether
> there's any problem with mixing the latencies like that.
>
> The first 512Mb is 2x256Mb installed in the first two slots with Dual
> Channel mode enabled, and I'd plan to leave them there and put the new
> DIMM in the third slot.
>
> Does anyone know of any reason why this marriage should not take place
> :-) ?
>
> TIA
> Nick Boyce


You don't mention speed. If you are currently running at 200 MHz FSB
(400 MHz DDR2) to run PC-3200 memory sticks in dual-channel mode in the
2 slots, you'll have to reduce FSB down to 166 MHz (333 MHz DDR2) to use
all 3 slots. That's what you will lose when you go to 3 slots from 2
slots. That's why I removed the 2 sticks and got 2 bigger ones so that
I did not have to reduce my FSB which far more greatly affects memory
performance and a different in CAS from 2.5 to 3.

Read the specs section in the manual, which says:

Supports 3 DIMMs DDR 200/266/333 (Max 3GB)
Supports 2 DIMMs DDR 400

Those are mutually exclusive. With 2 sticks, you get dual-channel mode
AND 400 MHz (200 FSB). With 3 sticks, FSB reduces to 333 MHz (166 FSB).
Your memory performance will get hit hard. Other than benchmarks,
you'll be hard pressed to notice any real-world difference between CAS
2.5 and 3, so run with a CAS setting of the slowest stick (i.e., highest
CAS value).

Also, with 3 sticks, you still get dual-channel mode for 2 slots but not
for the 3rd slot which also impacts memory performance. Check how much
virtual memory (pagefile) you are using. If you use lots of it, adding
more memory even if it has to run at a slower FSB may show a boost in
responsiveness in the system because less of the programs then have to
be on the slower hard drive, but then simply deciding what you really
need running and disabling the rest might accomplish a reduction in
pagefile usage, too. Also, in Windows, you can define different
hardware profiles and under each you can define which NT services get
loaded. So you could have a "game" hardware profile with many NT
services disabled so they don't consume memory.

From: Nick Boyce on 21 Feb 2007 22:30
On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:10:21 -0600, "Vanguard" <no(a)mail.invalid>
wrote:

>"Nick Boyce" <nick(a)glimmer.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:86bnt210da6sajuc4l517ogltfb3u128bl(a)4ax.com...
>>
>> The first 512Mb is 2x256Mb installed in the first two slots with Dual
>> Channel mode enabled, and I'd plan to leave them there and put the new
>> DIMM in the third slot.
>>
>> Does anyone know of any reason why this marriage should not take place
[...]
>You don't mention speed.

Yes, sorry - I should have mentioned more details: the existing RAM is
PC3200 but I'm more interested in running cool (=quiet) than fast so I
left it running at the default 333 MHz (even tho the V2 mobo can do
400MHz). It's all so much faster than my older machines that I really
don't mind :)

>If you are currently running at 200 MHz FSB
>(400 MHz DDR2) to run PC-3200 memory sticks in dual-channel mode in the
>2 slots, you'll have to reduce FSB down to 166 MHz (333 MHz DDR2) to use
>all 3 slots.

So I guess I won't actually lose any FSB ...

>Also, with 3 sticks, you still get dual-channel mode for 2 slots but not
>for the 3rd slot which also impacts memory performance.

.... but will have to accept the hit of one stick not operating in
dual-channel mode - I think that'll be ok (better than staying as is).

>Check how much virtual memory (pagefile) you are using ... simply deciding
>what you really need running and disabling the rest might accomplish a
>reduction in pagefile usage, too.

Um, that's very variable, depending on what I'm doing (sometimes just
surfing, sometimes doing multimedia stuff). Usually I have spare
physical memory ... but I'm starting to make more use so I think an
increase will be useful.

>Also, in Windows ...

Ah .. I multiboot, and am in Linux a lot :-)

Thanks for your very helpful post (and thanks to Dylan too) - it's
good to know I'm not about to do anything completely stupid :-}
I may curdle my spread-spectrum - whatever that is :-) - but the
machine will still run fine.

Cheers,
Nick Boyce
From: ned ludd on 22 Feb 2007 02:36

"Nick Boyce" <nick(a)glimmer.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:tr1qt21tfrlh6ri7adahjlf1qd3p759id3(a)4ax.com...
> On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:10:21 -0600, "Vanguard" <no(a)mail.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>>"Nick Boyce" <nick(a)glimmer.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>>news:86bnt210da6sajuc4l517ogltfb3u128bl(a)4ax.com...
>>>
>>> The first 512Mb is 2x256Mb installed in the first two slots with Dual
>>> Channel mode enabled, and I'd plan to leave them there and put the new
>>> DIMM in the third slot.
>>>
>>> Does anyone know of any reason why this marriage should not take place
> [...]
>>You don't mention speed.
>
> Yes, sorry - I should have mentioned more details: the existing RAM is
> PC3200 but I'm more interested in running cool (=quiet) than fast so I
> left it running at the default 333 MHz (even tho the V2 mobo can do
> 400MHz). It's all so much faster than my older machines that I really
> don't mind :)
>
>>If you are currently running at 200 MHz FSB
>>(400 MHz DDR2) to run PC-3200 memory sticks in dual-channel mode in the
>>2 slots, you'll have to reduce FSB down to 166 MHz (333 MHz DDR2) to use
>>all 3 slots.
>

Nonsense. That's nvidia's GUARANTEED minimum spec. Both my Abit NF7x boards
could run 200+ with all 3 DIMM slots populated, with tight memory timings.


> So I guess I won't actually lose any FSB ...
>

>>Also, with 3 sticks, you still get dual-channel mode for 2 slots but not
>>for the 3rd slot which also impacts memory performance.

Depends on how the memory is arranged

> ... but will have to accept the hit of one stick not operating in
> dual-channel mode - I think that'll be ok (better than staying as is).

Your description of the memory on the board doesn't match Abit's labelling
of the DIMM slots or the generic manual for nforce2 (nf7x) boards. I would
have thought it highly unlikely that Abit altered this for your v2 board.

In any case, the DIMM slot near the edge of the board (DIMM3) makes 1 memory
channel, the pair closest to the CPU make up the other. If you put the 512MB
module in DIMM3 and the 2 256MB in DIMM 1 and 2 you should have dual channel
operation for ALL of your memory.

<snip>


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