Memory question

[wedge22]

Is it better to use 2 sticks of ram or just one.
ie in my shuttle i have 2x sticks 512mb Samsung PC2700 and it is not happy,would i be better with 1 stick of a 1Gb capacity.

[dawson]

By using two sticks you will getting extra bandwidth through Dual Channel, stick with what your using, far better

[dawson]

D'oh, just read it's not happy.... Have you tried swapping them around? Or trying with just one of them, maybe one of them is a bit dodgy.

[Trash Man]

Run memtest to make sure both sticks of RAM are ok.

[Anders]

You’ll want to test the sticks separately using Memtest86, i.e. only one in the machine at a time, because only one might be broken.

What are your memory settings? I don’t really know loads about memory setting but there are plenty here who do (Austin?) Maybe more conservative settings might help (higher numbers are slower/conservative).

What do you mean by “not happy”?

[Austin]

2 sticks (correctly placed) are better in Dual Channel capable mobos otherwise 1 stick is a better idea though diffs aren't huge. When using 2 sticks it is wise to have them as closely matched as possible, ie same size, brand, speed rating, latency etc (which you seem to have). Some mobos and OS can have problems with larger sticks or even simply larger amounts of RAM, as said test them one at a time. The last thing which can become a factor usually involves filling all 3 slots rather than simply 2 and often limits the max speed of the RAM and therein FSB too.

More info needed really. Esp info on any o/c's, Shuttle type etc.

[wedge22]

It is a SS51G with a radeon 9800 and the 2 sticks are both 512MB Samsung pc2700 they both work fine seperately but not together. I cannot use memtest as i do not have a floppy drive.

[Anders]

You can download ISO images to burn onto a CD-ROM (if you have a CD-writer), which creates a bootable CD. ZIPed GZIPed
So when you use the sticks together what happens? Does the system POST, does windows load, does windows produces error messages?

[wedge22]

it loads but it will only load when i have the computer in SAFE mode in the bios memory settings if i put it in any othe mode it will crash back to the desktop from 3 d apps.

[Anders]

Originally posted by wedge22
it loads but it will only load when i have the computer in SAFE mode in the bios memory settings if i put it in any othe mode it will crash back to the desktop from 3 d apps.

So more conservative memory settings work? But you can use more aggressive settings when using either of the chips seperatly? When using a single chip do you always use the same RAM slot, because maybe the second/third RAM slot is bust? Let us know the MemTest86 results. BTW MemTest86 is normally ok just to run with standard tests, but to be absolutely sure you should test will all tests, however, this takes a lot longer.

[kamz]

It's debatable whether you really need 2 sticks. The new single-channel Nforce boarsd compare favourably against there dual channel brothers when it comes to gaming.