Lunk April 8, 2005 Share Lunk Member April 8, 2005 Which is better to use? Single Sided Memory (where the chips are all on one side) or Dual Sided Memory (where the chips are on both sides of the board) Here's why I ask. I just put together my 64-bit system last night. And everytime I try to put the memory sticks into the dual channel slots. It just beeps at me and won't boot. If I seperate them and put one in the first dual channel pair and one in the second dual channel pair, everything works fine. I've also tested the sticks individually and the system says they are fine. So, I need to return one of these sticks I got and replace it. Hence the question above. Just need to know if I should return the single-sided stick or the dual-sided stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shep48 April 8, 2005 Share shep48 Member April 8, 2005 (edited) had the same problem, needed to put in slot 2 and 4 for dual channel, works fine now. check manual for motherboard. oh, they are a matching pair right? Edited April 8, 2005 by shep48 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunk April 8, 2005 Author Share Lunk Member April 8, 2005 had the same problem, needed to put in slot 2 and 4 for dual channel, works fine now. check manual for motherboard. oh, they are a matching pair right? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> If you mean did I buy them as a boxed set. No. I went and bought 2 sticks of pc3200 512mb sticks. Each in it's own package. Only difference being. One has chips on only one side. The other has chips on both sides of the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shep48 April 8, 2005 Share shep48 Member April 8, 2005 not 100% but I think you need matching pairs for dual channel, somebody will know for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher April 8, 2005 Share Preacher Member April 8, 2005 Also you need duel channel Ram for optimum usage. The Ram you have will probably only function as single sticks not in duel mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zerodamage April 8, 2005 Share Guest zerodamage Guests April 8, 2005 I think it will not run in dual channel mode if they are not the same exact type of memory and same manufacturer. There are exceptions of course but very few when you are talking about dual channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunk April 8, 2005 Author Share Lunk Member April 8, 2005 I think it will not run in dual channel mode if they are not the same exact type of memory and same manufacturer. There are exceptions of course but very few when you are talking about dual channel. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> They are the same make & manufacturer. Just one has more chips on it than the other. And I will be taking one back and replacing it. Just want to know which one would be better to keep. The single sided one or the dual sided one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo April 8, 2005 Share Cujo Member April 8, 2005 are they both the same size? most 512mb sticks are double sided. if they are two different sizes they will not work in dual channel. you should definately take either one or both sticks back and buy a dual channel kit. that way you ensure dual channel will work just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFM April 13, 2005 Share BFM Member April 13, 2005 Mixing high density and low density chips can cause system instability, according to the books. Now personally, it's always worked fine for me, but I seriously doubt if it's going to work in dual-channel mode. You have to have identical sticks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appalachian_fox April 14, 2005 Share appalachian_fox Member April 14, 2005 The only advantages / disadvantages I can see to the number of sides the chips are on could be (1) heat, though that's reaching a little, and (2) different PCB trace lengths / power requirements, which would also contribute to heat and is really, really reaching. Dislocated shoulder reaching. I'd say it has more to do with what components were used on the stick more than how many sides the components are on. If you're hard on keeping one and returning the other, I'd find out which one is newest / gets the best benchmarks / specs. Otherwise, I'll beat the dead horse and recommend returning both and getting a boxed matching set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunk April 15, 2005 Author Share Lunk Member April 15, 2005 I'm just going to keep both sticks. And go buy another 512mb stick. It will either be single sided or dual sided. So it will match one or the other. BTW. I've never bought boxed set memory sticks. And I've always been able to run what I did buy in dual-channel. I buy the same manufacturer, same speed, same mb size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo April 15, 2005 Share Cujo Member April 15, 2005 so hold on. what's your final configuration going to be then? plz list the size of memory for each stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOFX April 15, 2005 Share NOFX Member April 15, 2005 lol it seems everyone has completely ignored lunks question. I dont think it matters man its all the same. Just look at the specs on the Ram for which is better. and I too have always bought the same mem sticks indiviually and run fine in dual mode. Box sets are for suckers who will pay more cuz they believe they have to in order to get dual channel if you keep both of those and get a new chip you still wont get dual channel, but in my experiance I would defintely take more RAM over dual channel anyday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunk April 15, 2005 Author Share Lunk Member April 15, 2005 so hold on. what's your final configuration going to be then? plz list the size of memory for each stick. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I will end up with the following: 3 sticks of PC3200 Memory and each being 512 mb sticks. For a total of 1.5 gigs of memory. At a later time I will buy a fourth stick of the same.(I've got 4 memory slots on my MB) And bump it up to 2 gigs of memory. Or I may just go ahead and buy 2 more sticks now. Yeah, NOFX everyone has avoided my question on this. I really just wanted to know whether it was better to have memory sticks with chips on both sides or with chips on one side. At least people are responding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zerodamage April 15, 2005 Share Guest zerodamage Guests April 15, 2005 I thought I answered your question Lunk. It is better to have RAM on one side. Has to do with latency and timings. Also, some modern mobo's run more stable with one sided RAM sticks. Mine for example recommends One sided RAM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appalachian_fox April 15, 2005 Share appalachian_fox Member April 15, 2005 Hey, I tried to answer it, too Components! It's all about the components! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo April 15, 2005 Share Cujo Member April 15, 2005 I will end up with the following: 3 sticks of PC3200 Memory and each being 512 mb sticks. For a total of 1.5 gigs of memory. ok now that will not work. you need EQUAL SIZED RAM in each channel for dual channel. that's why i was asking what size... At a later time I will buy a fourth stick of the same.(I've got 4 memory slots on my MB) And bump it up to 2 gigs of memory. Or I may just go ahead and buy 2 more sticks now. plz note that an a64 system with 4 sticks of ddr400 ram the ram will only run at ddr333. only with the new venice revision(which i guarantee you DON'T have) can you run 4 sticks at ddr400 on an a64 board... and that's not even for sure cause it still depends on the mobo. consult your mobo manufacturers website if you don't believe me. Yeah, NOFX everyone has avoided my question on this. I really just wanted to know whether it was better to have memory sticks with chips on both sides or with chips on one side. At least people are responding. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> stop criticizing me for asking. i am trying to ensure that it will work when he's finished. at this point it WILL NOT work so it's a good thing i'm getting answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunk April 15, 2005 Author Share Lunk Member April 15, 2005 I think it will not run in dual channel mode if they are not the same exact type of memory and same manufacturer. There are exceptions of course but very few when you are talking about dual channel. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Sorry Zero, this is your first response. And it didn't answer my question. No biggie. I knew eventually we would get around to it. Cujo,Apr 15 2005, 12:58 PM]ok now that will not work. you need EQUAL SIZED RAM in each channel for dual channel. that's why i was asking what size... plz note that an a64 system with 4 sticks of ddr400 ram the ram will only run at ddr333. only with the new venice revision(which i guarantee you DON'T have) can you run 4 sticks at ddr400 on an a64 board... and that's not even for sure cause it still depends on the mobo. consult your mobo manufacturers website if you don't believe me. stop criticizing me for asking. i am trying to ensure that it will work when he's finished. at this point it WILL NOT work so it's a good thing i'm getting answers. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes Cujo, I realize if I bought another stick and had all 3 in their that it won't work in dual channel. That second part, I don't know anything about. I've not heard that. So, I will look into it. My mobo manual says it supports ddr400 in dual channel. And I believe you. As I said I will look into it some more. Or if you have a link to that info. I will be glad to check it out. And lastly, I apologize I didn't mean to be criticizing. I was just givin' you guys a hard time. I really do appreciate the info here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOFX April 15, 2005 Share NOFX Member April 15, 2005 i have 4 sticks of RAM two different types, 4x256 and i run dual channel no problem. more RAM > dual channel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunk April 15, 2005 Author Share Lunk Member April 15, 2005 i have 4 sticks of RAM two different types, 4x256 and i run dual channel no problem. more RAM > dual channel <{POST_SNAPBACK}> But, are you running an AMD64bit Processor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo April 15, 2005 Share Cujo Member April 15, 2005 i have 4 sticks of RAM two different types, 4x256 and i run dual channel no problem. more RAM > dual channel <{POST_SNAPBACK}> and are the double or single sided? also, if amd64 what is your command rate setting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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