I’ve just recently upgraded my PC by purchasing a new motherboard and processor. Things were great, but being a bit of a junkie for games I then decided to up my RAM from 1 gig to 2.
I had assumed that since the speeds matched that everything would be fine - two of my four slots filled with 512mb and the gig in one of the others. I installed the gig into the mobo and started the computer. Windows (XP Home SP2) loaded and things seemed fine. I checked properties and my RAM was listed as being 2 gigs. I was about to start F.E.A.R when the PC rebooted. Windows started back up but before the intro noise was even done the PC rebooted again, and then again before I ever got to the desktop. Hoping against hope I tried to get things going a few more times but the PC would just continue to reboot itself - most times before I would ever see the desktop.
After removing the two 512s and moving the 1 gig strip to the first slot everything returned to normal.
The question? Are the RAM strips that I have just not compatible? I searched as many sites as I could find (SDMB included, though the three letter word issue is a pain.)and just can’t seem to find a definitive answer. Things get just complicated enough to go over my head. If there is a way to use the strips together any help would be greatly appreciated. If not, the friend that received my old mobo and processor is about to get a heck of a deal.
Basically, they are all 184 pin PC3200 and they should be compatible. However, there are often large discrepancies between what computer components should do and what actually happens. It may be that your mobo is trying to run in dual-channel mode and the clock timings on the RAM are different by just enough to make things fall over. This is why memory is so often sold in ‘kits’ made up of matched modules that are guaranteed to work together.
Depending on how geeky you are it may be worth going into the BIOS and stepping the memory timings down a tiny bit to see if it will run at a slightly lower speed. Also check the motherboard manual to see if it specifies using particular combinations (I seem to recall having one that only accepted slot 1, 1&3, 1&4, 1&2&4 or 1&2&3&4 or some such nonsense).
If you are not interested in faffing around, then sell the 2 x 512 and buy another gig of the Corsair.
I’ll agree with slaphead. I think the rule with DDR memory is that you have to have matched modules in slots 1 & 2 and in 3&4. In your setup, you have matched modules in slots 1 & 2 (I’m guessing the two 512MB modules) and a single 1GB module in slot 3 or 4. I don’t think that will work in a dual channel setup. To my understanding, you must either send the 1GB module back and buy two more 512MB modules so you have matching ram in the remaining two slots, or sell the two 512’s that you already have and as slaphead said, buy a second 1GB module.
I believe that the memory speeds will default to 333mhz with four 512’s due to limitations with the AMD on-chip memory controller, but if you have two 1GB sticks they will both run at the PC-3200 standard of 400mhz. I’m speaking from personal experience there, and you might see a slight performance boost with two 1GB sticks vs. four 512MB sticks. YMMV.
This page gives some info on valid single and dual-channel memory configurations, and links to driver/bios updates and support documentation. Should hopefully help out - remember, first port of call is always the people who made the thing you’re having problems with
