Asus A7V8X-X Ram headache

[Aro]

Hello!

I had an old computer that I decided to upgrade. It had one double sided stick of PC2700 (256meg) ram in it, and I bought another two sticks of 512 ram for it. (Total of 1.25 gigs)

The two 512 sticks were DDR400 PC3200, and they were both double sided.

Before a few minutes ago I had no idea 'double sided' really made a difference. But apparently, as I've read on this forum, there are things called "banks", and the A7V8X-X can only support 4-pc2700 banks, and 2-pc3200 banks. Each "side" of a ram chip is a 'bank'. So, double sided ram = 2 banks for that one stick.

Meaning, I can only have ONE of my new 512 sticks in the computer.

However, I can also have the 512 stick, and the old pc2700 256 meg chip in at the same time.

My question is this...
if I return this other 512 chip (15% restocking fee, damnit!), and buy a 512 pc2700 chip...(double sided most likely)...I will have a total of 4 pc2700 banks, and 2 pc3200 banks.

Will this work?

Can you mix and match the ram types to get to the maximum banks? Or by having my 2 banks of pc3200 used up, does that also use up the 2 remaining banks of pc2700?

I'm very confused, and I'd like some advice before I make another foolish purchase.

On the bright side, at least I learned something!

[scrandman]

Keep the PC3200 RAM, and run it at DDR333 (PC2700) in BIOS. RAM is backwards compatable, so there will be no problems. At this speed, you only need to comply with the 4-banks restriction - forget about the 2 bank PC3200 thing.

FWIW, the PC3200 support on the A7V8X-X was a joke - only possible with the CPU running at 133FSB. Not worth the trouble IMO.

[noorman]

Hello!

I had an old computer that I decided to upgrade. It had one double sided stick of PC2700 (256meg) ram in it, and I bought another two sticks of 512 ram for it. (Total of 1.25 gigs)

The two 512 sticks were DDR400 PC3200, and they were both double sided.

Before a few minutes ago I had no idea 'double sided' really made a difference. But apparently, as I've read on this forum, there are things called "banks", and the A7V8X-X can only support 4-pc2700 banks, and 2-pc3200 banks. Each "side" of a ram chip is a 'bank'. So, double sided ram = 2 banks for that one stick.

Meaning, I can only have ONE of my new 512 sticks in the computer.

However, I can also have the 512 stick, and the old pc2700 256 meg chip in at the same time.

My question is this...
if I return this other 512 chip (15% restocking fee, damnit!), and buy a 512 pc2700 chip...(double sided most likely)...I will have a total of 4 pc2700 banks, and 2 pc3200 banks.

Will this work?

Can you mix and match the ram types to get to the maximum banks? Or by having my 2 banks of pc3200 used up, does that also use up the 2 remaining banks of pc2700?

I'm very confused, and I'd like some advice before I make another foolish purchase.

On the bright side, at least I learned something!

You better look here for memory approval for a7n8x-x:

http://www.asus.com.tw/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X-X&langs=07

amount of memory banks is there too ...

[Senor Panadero]

You better look here for memory approval for a7n8x-x:

http://www.asus.com.tw/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X-X&langs=07

amount of memory banks is there too ...

V, V, V8X-X.

The V8X is not so easily answered. There are, I think, four memory configuration entries in the V8X-X faq (see sticky).

To run memory at 200 MHZ (DDR 400, PC3200), need two banks (sides) maximum. Then only with a FSB of 133. A 166 (333) FSB will force 166 (333 memory frequency which will undeclock pc3200 and possibly overclock pc2100. They made a real stretch with this board calling it DDR 400 capable. But it was inexpensive to use and reliable once you figured out the memory.