Am2 w/ 4 memory sticks?

K

kenpomasta

Gawd
Joined
Jun 21, 2004
Messages
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I was wondering how the Am2 memory controller handles 4 memory sticks. I was given 2x512 sticks and was thinking about grabing another 2 512s to run 4x 512. Im running that on my 939 atm and never had any problems. Does the Am2 handle it just like the 939.
 
I can't say how AM2 would handle four sticks, because I have a 939 setup. But I can say that you would have to buy different RAM anyway if you were upgrading to AM2. So if you intend to use any RAM you buy now on an AM2 setup, you're out of luck.

939, however, does run without too much issue with four sticks. If you're lucky, all you should need to do is loosen up some timings or bump the voltage slightly.
 
Im going up to AM2 and was givin 2x512 DDR2 already. I was just wondering if I will get any headaches with trying ot run 4x512 in it before I would go out and get another matching set. My 939 doest mind 4x512 @ all. But from what ive read teh AM2 mem controller is picky
 
your 939 doesnt mind 4 sticks...... it will only run them @ T2 and DDR333 not 400mhz

939 mem controllers are weak also
 
Adidas4275 said:
your 939 doesnt mind 4 sticks...... it will only run them @ T2 and DDR333 not 400mhz

939 mem controllers are weak also
Click to expand...
I thought that was only the older 939 A64 cpus that had to run at 333 running 4 sticks.
 
Adidas4275 said:
your 939 doesnt mind 4 sticks...... it will only run them @ T2 and DDR333 not 400mhz

939 mem controllers are weak also
Click to expand...

not true. depends on your board/bios and processor. Venice on up fixed the problem of 4 going to 333. I myself have 4 at ddr400.

2T is not the performance hit everyone and their brother makes it out to be either, its meaningless. (at stock, anyway)
 
Most of the time (every chance I used the processor, actually) the D0's could do 4xDS with 2T and 200MHz. D0 was kind of underrated, heh. Damn the CBBID batches!
 
Asking if the AM2's memory controller operates differently from the 939 versions is somewhat redundant. The only change to the memory controller was the support for DDR2, all the rest remains the same.

As for 2T timings with AM2/939, I find that is more related to the chipset than the memory controller. The nForce4 was picky with 4 DIMM's and I was forced to run my memory at 2T. After I changed to the RD580, I have been able to run 1T with no problems.

Now that we are starting to see RD580 boards come out for AM2, I wonder if this will remain the same? :confused:
 
The BIOS settings were all the same for CAS, RAS, and Tref. I also ran the same voltages for the memory. I also did the tests in two nForce4 boards, the Gigabyte K8NF-9 and the MSI K8N-Neo4 Platinum. Both those boards refused to run 2T with slight overclocks where the A8R32-MVP had no hickups.
 
fireluxx said:
As for 2T timings with AM2/939, I find that is more related to the chipset than the memory controller.
Click to expand...
most interesting cause the chipset has nothing to do with ram since s754.........
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
most interesting cause the chipset has nothing to do with ram since s754.........
Click to expand...

I think he's refering to the motherboard traces from the socket to the RAM slots. Many people attribute the entire motherboard as the "chipset", even thought the term "chipset" is completely obsolete with AMD K8 CPUs.
 
What kind of crap are you smoking? Uh, then what the heck do they call the nForce4, a black square that makes the motherboard work? If 30 other review sites and the vendors themselves call it a chipset, are you going to send hate-mails telling them that their terminology is wrong? :rolleyes:

Something tells me that you never touched a Crossfire board in your life either. Let me give you a lesson. If a motherboard consists of two chips, one being a northbridge and one being a southbridge, that technically is considered a chipset. Look at the Crossfire boards. <Teachers voice> In the middle, you have the RD480/RD580 northbridge. On the bottom right hand side you have the ULi M1575 southbridge</end>. Ever notice that the new GeForce 6100/6150 boards have that same kind of setup with the nForce 410/430 southbridge?
 
I hate to be a prick, but :D

The term "Chipset" is a little outdated... Even though, yes it still gets used alot, it doesnt actually apply....

In the case of nVidia.... The "chipset" is actually a graphics processor for the northbridge, and an IO processor for the southbridge...

In the case of ATi.... The "chipset" is actually a graphics processor for the northbridge, and an IO processor for the southbridge... That is about it.

Back in the day... Chipset worked becouse there was a ton of different chips that were needed to provide the system with all of it's functionality.... Today they have all been integrated on die with one or two other chips...

Occasionaly you'll see motherboard makers integrate third party Ethernet controllers, or 1394 controllers, or audio codecs and so on... It is THESE chips that can be called a chipset... Hence a set of third party chips... chipset...

In my opinion, I think IO processor is MUCH more appropriate. It is actually much closer to the truth. Northbridge was basically a bridge to memory, and AGP. South bridge was just a bridge to PCI...

Now the memory controller has been integrated on die, and PCIe has been integrated in the IO processor. The "northbridge is basically just integrated graphics processor.

Now most of the PCI expansion cards have been integrated on the southbridged IDE Serial Parallel USB SATA Audio, etc, etc... The "southbridge" is now much more then that... It is now an IO Processor....
 
I generally call those PHY's, or a Host Controller such as VIA VT6214 USB controller.
 
fireluxx said:
I generally call those PHY's, or a Host Controller such as VIA VT6214 USB controller.
Click to expand...

PHY is how the chip connects to the system... But that PHY is a part of the chipset.
 
Well, not to be a prick, but your semantics are putting the thread off-topic. Oops. :eek:
 
fireluxx said:
Well, not to be a prick, but your semantics are putting the thread off-topic. Oops. :eek:
Click to expand...


I was tryin to help ease misconceptions. That's all. I really dont care what people refer to it as... I just tryin to help.

It's the same way with people calling HT a FSB... It doesnt matter in the end. But they say knowledge is power... And I want as much power as I can get. So it dont hurt to be right when you spout off about something you are debating.

OT... It has nothing to do with the IO processor. The memory controller is on the CPU. Sometimes the traces on hte board, or the VR's used, and the default BIOS settings can make a big difference though... I've found that there are quite a few boards that dont strictly abide the SPD timings.
 
fireluxx said:
The BIOS settings were all the same for CAS, RAS, and Tref. I also ran the same voltages for the memory. I also did the tests in two nForce4 boards, the Gigabyte K8NF-9 and the MSI K8N-Neo4 Platinum. Both those boards refused to run 2T with slight overclocks where the A8R32-MVP had no hickups.
Click to expand...

Oh that's right, because CAS, TRP, TRC, and Tref are the only memory timings.
 
fireluxx said:
What kind of crap are you smoking? Uh, then what the heck do they call the nForce4, a black square that makes the motherboard work? If 30 other review sites and the vendors themselves call it a chipset, are you going to send hate-mails telling them that their terminology is wrong? :rolleyes:

Something tells me that you never touched a Crossfire board in your life either. Let me give you a lesson. If a motherboard consists of two chips, one being a northbridge and one being a southbridge, that technically is considered a chipset. Look at the Crossfire boards. <Teachers voice> In the middle, you have the RD480/RD580 northbridge. On the bottom right hand side you have the ULi M1575 southbridge</end>. Ever notice that the new GeForce 6100/6150 boards have that same kind of setup with the nForce 410/430 southbridge?
Click to expand...
regardless, the chipset has NOTHING to do with memory access. and chill the tone, he was pointing out that some people call it that, not that it really is that :cool:

drizz, seeing as most people have to switch to 2T with just 1 or two sticks to break 450mhz, 4 sticks requiring 2T doesn't surprise me in the least
though last time i checked that document, it made no mention about dimm loading and command rate. guess i gotta reread it :p
 
Indeed, I was wrong, the tables talk about address timing:
5.1.2.9 Address Timing
The DRAM controller provides controls for programming the setup on the address pins, the CS/ODT
pins and the CKE pins. Table 41, Table 42, Table 43, and Table 44 document the address timing
settings on a per channel basis. The DIMMs on each channel are numbered from 1 to n where
DIMM1 is the DIMM closest to the processor on that channel and DIMMn is the DIMM farthest from
the processor on that channel. DIMMs must be populated from farthest slot to closest slot to the
processor on a per channel basis. Populations that are not shown in these tables are not supported.
Click to expand...
 
fireluxx said:
What kind of crap are you smoking? Uh, then what the heck do they call the nForce4, a black square that makes the motherboard work? If 30 other review sites and the vendors themselves call it a chipset, are you going to send hate-mails telling them that their terminology is wrong? :rolleyes:

Something tells me that you never touched a Crossfire board in your life either. Let me give you a lesson. If a motherboard consists of two chips, one being a northbridge and one being a southbridge, that technically is considered a chipset. Look at the Crossfire boards. <Teachers voice> In the middle, you have the RD480/RD580 northbridge. On the bottom right hand side you have the ULi M1575 southbridge</end>. Ever notice that the new GeForce 6100/6150 boards have that same kind of setup with the nForce 410/430 southbridge?
Click to expand...

Apparently a hell of a lot better crap than you smoke. I know what I'm talking about, you don't.
If you want to flame about semantics taking us OT than do that, but don't argue things you don't understand.
 
Yes your right.. Im running my 4x 512 @ ddr333 and 2t setting. but that never was a problem cause my pc4000 sticks dont like to OC much past 260, so I need the DDR333 divder on it anyway. So the AM2 mem controller just acts the same? 2t with the next lower mult. Not sure on DDR2 workings yet.. However its setup. I think im going to go with a Asus Nforce 570 or 590 board. I had won a X2 4200 AM2 CPU and 2x 512 of DDR2 800 memory on a local raffle, so Im hoping it will be able to match my Opteron 170 im running atm. So as long as the Am2 doesnt mind 4x512 even if I have to run it @ 2t, I will go that route. In that case I will upgrade from the Nforce 570 board to the 590 boards to run true 16x SLI
 
Although this thread has already reached its internet-fight stage, I am going to risk asking a related question.

With an nForce3 (yes, NF three) socket 939 board, will 4 x 512 sticks require the memory to run at DDR333 (even with a newer chip: X2 4800), or will it be able to run at DDR400 with the 2T setting?

Ready...FIGHT! (But first answer my question, k?)
 
as i said, chipset has nothing to do with it. mobo design plays a role, and the cpu's IMC is key. with revE, the spec is still at ddr333, 2T for 4 double rank sticks, but i've found it's possible to go way higher with some skill and a good chip.
 
Thanks Eclipse. Right, I need to pay attention when I read.

I realize I have taken this thread off its original path so I will exit after one more little question.

You say "with revE, the spec is still at ddr333, 2T for 4 double rank sticks, but i've found it's possible to go way higher with some skill and a good chip."

I've seen that ddr333 spec on the AMD site. In reading about (and just barely understanding) this, I have seen just a couple or few posts on other threads where it is said that with the newer AMD chips, running 4 dual channel sticks at ddr400 is no problem with the 2T timing. To your knowledge is that a common experience?

(I am going to buy an X2 4800 (939) for my K8N Neo2 Platinum board and I would like to simply buy two 512 sticks to double my memory.)

Thanks for any help!
 
well, i've only messed with 3 revE chips, but all of them could break 200mhz at 2T with proper tuning. hell, my opteron 146 went up to 275mhz with 4x1gb... :D:D

chances are it will work at 200mhz, but the spec is still at ddr333, so i can't promise it :(
 
Thanks for the info man. I think I'll pull the trigger on the X2 4800 and the extra 2 x 512 sticks and see what happens. Livin on the edge over here. :rolleyes: ;)
 
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