NF7 + Dual Channel

[3Dfx]

OK folks.

Quick question.

If I buy a Abit NF7 mobo id want to use the dual channel RAM mode.

I have: -

256Mb PC2700 Crucial
128Mb PC2100 Kingston
128Mb PC1200 Kingston


Can I use Dual Channel with 3 sticks? if "No" can I use dual channel with different size & speed RAM sticks?

ta

[Big RICHARD]

Flog those en ebay and buy 2 * 512 sticks of pc3200!

[Austin]

NF7 does has Dual Channel ability right? Is it just the super sound (and frills like SATA) you miss out on by not buying the '-S' version? Anyway 3 sticks and Dual Channel is a bit of a mixed bag. It should work fine but some people report it inhibits o/c's, 400FSB and hurts perf a tiny bit. It is preferable to use 2 sticks (in the right slots) and ideal to use sticks the same size, brand and type. If not then it would be best to put the 2x128MB on 1 channel and the 256MB stick on the other channel. You say PC1200, is that meant to be PC2100? If so rem that overall speed is dictated by the slowest stick and PC2100 is only designed for 266mhz (2x133mhz) and hence 266FSB (2x133mhz). Even PC2700 may be a little limiting if you want max perf as that's only designed for 333FSB (2x166mhz). I'd suggest buying a stick of 256MB PC2700-3200 from Crucial (£30) and simply sell on your 2x128MB PC2100 sticks. Bottom line is it should work but you will be limited to 266FSB and may experience a few quirks.

[Kezzer]

i thought the dual channel has a seperate memory controller when correctly placed into the right DIMM slots. If you use a third then it will use the non-dual channel memory controller which means it won't utilize it

just a thought.

[bledd]

hmm, so if i have 2x 256mb sticks of pc2700, and 1x 512mb stick, would this work in dual channel?.. -got a spare 512 stick lying around

-

[Trickle]

3 sticks should work in dual channel, I think he was just stating that the 3rd stick would still be bound to the first memory controller?

/me waits for agent to save the day.

[luke313]

There are two 64-bit memory controllers separated into 3 memory slots. One controller has 2 slots, the other has 1. You can see which are on different controllers as the 2 slots are separate to the single slot. To utilise both memory controllers, and thus dual-channel, you must have sticks of ram in both controllers' slots. Using the spare slot (Assuming you put 2 sticks of ram in first) does not disable the dual-channel, as they are still using both controllers.

cky2k, Yes that would work, assuming you had an nforce2 motherboard.

[Austin]

Yup 2 slots serve one of the channels while the other slot serves the second channel. It's rumoured that for top perf and stable running you should use 2 sticks ideally of the same brand, size and type. So long as you have a Dual Channel version of the nForce2 mobo all you need to utilise it is some RAM on each of the channels. Using 3 sticks is fine in theory (and probably practice) just rem that the overall speed will be dictated by the slowest stick (PC3200+PC2700+PC2100 means all run at PC2100). If possible keep the same amount of RAM on each controller (1x512MB on one channel and 2x256MB on the other for example) ... it may make no diff of course but is best to do it if you can.

[bledd]

ah sweet!

2x corsiars 256's and
1x twinmoss 512 comin up!

[bledd]

just to CONFIRM that dual channel works with 3 sticks of ram

got the 2 corsairs on one side, and the twinmos on the single one

1gb