2x512 @ 1T or 3x512 @ 2T ??? Please help?

Nutbusta · 21 Feb 2006 at 21:39

Just got another set of crucial ballistix which like my existing ones run at 260,2.5,3,3,6 in a DFI NF3 250Gb with an E6 Sempron64@2600Mhz

The problem is that I thought I'd use 3 sticks making BF2 much more fun

However I get MASSES of Memtest errors using 3 sticks. Even if I slacken the timings or drop the frequency

I thought the new chip only had issues using 4 sticks?

Can someone just tell me if theres a setting I've missed or if I have to put up with 1T lamness because tbh I'm a bit gutted

smids · 22 Feb 2006 at 10:46

I'd stick with the two sticks @ 1T - so much better than running only 1.5gb @ 2T as 2T has a major bandwidth hit compared to 1T. Regarding the errors, are they just caused by bad RAM?

Dirk · 22 Feb 2006 at 10:53

Running 3x Modules is never a good idea, especially on an Nforce3 board. Confused by your '1T lameness' comment. Did i misunderstand or are you under the impression that 1T is worse than 2T? (Other way round). I'd stick with the 2x512MB for now until you can get a 2GB kit. You'll get some on MM cheap i'm sure.

mp260767 · 22 Feb 2006 at 11:25

if its bf2 you're interested in drop it to 2t and use the 3 sticks.

Nutbusta · 22 Feb 2006 at 19:01

Hi Smids, tested all the sticks seperatly and they're good.

and Dirk, your right. I meant 2T lameness

Oops,

Just wondering if anyone can confirm if this is just related to running more than 2 sticks. As I said I thought the issues with the new CPU's are only running 4 sticks?

And hey MP260767, I may well just do that... ....reluctantly

Nutbusta · 22 Feb 2006 at 20:16

So anyone been able to run 3 sticks with 1T??

Nutbusta · 23 Feb 2006 at 23:53

^^^Bump^^^

Does anyone know if I should be able to run 3 sticks at 1T on an NF3 mobo and E6 Sempron???

Dutch Guy · 24 Feb 2006 at 12:32

Nutbusta said:
So anyone been able to run 3 sticks with 1T??

Not possible.

3 sticks of memory can give you a lot of problems that are not memory related but mobo and/or memory controller related.

I would stick with 2 sticks, 1Gb is fine with BF2, you only need to lower Textures to medium and possible shadows and lighting as well.

decto · 24 Feb 2006 at 17:32

3 sticks or 4 sticks its the same issue with 1T/2T

Each channel can accept 2 dimms or each which have 1 or 2 banks (single/dual sided)

If you have more than 2 banks on one channel you usually need to run as 2T

The only time you can fill all the dimm slots @ 1T is if you have single sided dimms.

For 3 dimms the bigger issue is that the memory controller cannot properly run in dual channel and that is likely to be where the performance is going as opposed to 1T /2T

AD

Nutbusta · 24 Feb 2006 at 18:00

decto said:
3 sticks or 4 sticks its the same issue with 1T/2T

Each channel can accept 2 dimms or each which have 1 or 2 banks (single/dual sided)

If you have more than 2 banks on one channel you usually need to run as 2T

The only time you can fill all the dimm slots @ 1T is if you have single sided dimms.

For 3 dimms the bigger issue is that the memory controller cannot properly run in dual channel and that is likely to be where the performance is going as opposed to 1T /2T

AD

Ah, ha, I'm sure your absolutly right but as I'm on socket 754 everything is single channel

PRolly will go with just 1 gig though.

Thanks for the comments guys, I'll most likely just take dutch guys advice.