Bratwurst

I have a P4P800 Deluxe board from Asus, and 2 sticks of Crucial 512 MB PC3200 Ram. I bought one stick when I first built the machine, and then recently went back and got a second stick from the same manufacturer, and same part number to do dual channel. My whole idea was to increase performance for HL2 and Doom 3.

So this morning, I reboot my machine and noticed on the post screen that it said the memory was in single channel mode.

I have them in the blue slots on the mobo, like it says to. I also updated this morning to the latest bios to see if that helped. Still have the issue.

So I opened my case up and looked at the dimms. I bought them both from crucial.com, and they are both 512 sticks of pc3200. Yet one has the black peices on both sides of the stick, and the other has them on only one side. So they are the same size but different?

I looked at crucial's ordering site and they list the memory part number with only the first set of numbers that are identical on both of my sticks. The number is CT6464Z40B, shown here: http://www.crucial.com/store/MParts...WSPN=CT6464Z40B. But they don't list a number on each dimm that comes after that which is different.

So are my sticks not identical and not available for dual channel? I feel like I got screwed, I went to the manufacturer who I had bought the first stick from, and got the one with the exact same part number but I got a stick that looks different.

Further, is there a system benchmark that I can run that will tell me if they are in dual channel mode but the post screen is just saying the wrong info?

OS: WinXP Pro Sp2
Processor: Intel P4C 2.4 Ghz
Motherboard: Asus P4P800 Deluxe
RAM: Crucial 512MB DDR PC3200

KrazyKracka

Did you try putting them in both of the black DIMM slots instead? I'm running two different types of RAM in my machine, and it runs in dual-channel (P4C800E board, though)

Your RAM has different chips than the first, which is why you have all on one side, and the other is on both sides. The chips are just more memory per chip, which is why they are all crammed on one side of the stick. This is the same style that's used on the 1GB stick, however, I don't think that should make a difference, because mine are the same way, one having chips on both sides, and the other only on one side.

Bratwurst

I had them in the blue slots because that is what the mobo manual said to use. I even tried putting one in a blue and one in a black hoping that each color was for a channel but that didn't work either. I didn't try both in black slots.

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cyrnel

Is there any difference if you switch DIMM positions? By that I mean switch A1 & B1. Same DIMMs, still blue sockets, just flopped. Memory controller module detection can be tempermental.

On that note, it's almost certainly running as single channel if that's what's reported. The memory controller will do it's thing, detecting available memory and type, and storing what it decided was best. The BIOS information screen is just reporting based on what was done.

DIMM components change over time. I'd email Crucial with what you wrote above plus the complete DIMM information and sales order info. You made a good effort at getting compatible sticks but it sounds like you were caught across revisions. Ask if they can swap the older module for one compatible with your new one. Their support is pretty good in my experience.

KrazyKracka

My asus board RAM settings are as follows:

In the BIOS, go to ADVANCED, then CHIPSET. When you're there check to see if yours is the same as mine, which is this:

Configure DRAM Timing by SPD : Enabled

Performance Acceleration mode : Auto
DRAM Idle timer : Auto
DRAM refresh rate : Auto

That's the way mine is, and once again, the components in the actual stick didn't make a difference with mine, in fact they are different brands as well. Hopefully that can help you out!

Bratwurst

Thats exactly how I have mine as well. I read on a different board before I posted this that if you try to put in memory times yourself by disabling the auto DRAM timing you will almost certainly run single channel everytime.

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Bratwurst

I will go ahead and switch them. What sucks is that I have to remove my video card to get to the first stick!

I will also try to speak to Crucial, thats a good idea. But I bought this second stick a while ago, I think a week after Doom3 came out? But I just noticed that it was running single channel still this morning. I doubt they will still honor the sale. We'll see, its worth a shot.

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Bratwurst

Spoke with Crucial, they said since one is dual sided and the other is single, they won't work in dual channel mode. Oh well.

They said that if I needed a certain chip count then I need to order over the phone.

Thanks for the help guys.

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cyrnel

Did they offer to swap one? This was by telephone?

Mention in one sentence that you bought two DIMMs from them with the same part number, both still under warranty, but they aren't working dual channel. Sometimes it's enough just to speak with another rep. Next I'd do the email route with sales order info. Be clear and brief, and ask for their help.

Bratwurst

I did it via chat, and posted that during the chat session. I kept talking to the lady via chat and she offered to swap one of the DIMMs. The catch was that they are going to charge me up front for a new double sided DIMM and then credit me when I send the single sided one back. I hope it works.

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cyrnel

Good deal. "Advance exchange" generally assumes you have an open account or you provide them a credit card for security. The other option is sending them one to exchange, but better to have three in front of you for the best chance of a like pair. Let us know how it goes.

Bratwurst

I used to exchanges like this at work for hard drives through maxtor. So I am sure it will work out moneywise, I am just hoping that my board isn't messed up and the problem. Probably isn't. Pretty cool that they would exchange a DIMM four months after I bought it.

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mikec

don't sweat your mobo being a problem....the 2 sticks were not identical, so that's why it wasn't working...you'll be a happy camper when you get your 2nd double sided stick.

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Bratwurst

The tech said that it didn't make a difference between double sided and single sided for performance, that they were basically the same. Is that true? Why make the two different styles if one didn't perform better than the other?

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cyrnel

Logically they're the same, but electrically they're different. Using twice the components to make up the same socket density requires extra power & can have other effects. It usually works but results can vary. Sometimes motherboards aren't designed to supply the power required or a mismatch can cause detection issues.

The different styles result from component cost and availability. If you're a DIMM manufacturer/assembler and have a cheap source of 128Mbit chips, it can make economic sense to use twice as many instead of sourcing expensive 256Mbit chips. This has been a classic pattern when a new chip capacity is released but commands a premium price. For obvious reasons it's been most common with "budget" suppliers.

Again, the jumbo modules are usually okay but can cause issues. No foolproof guideline but problems usually only arise when mixing types or when used in a board that wasn't tested for the added load.

Bratwurst

I take it crucial is a bargain brand?

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cyrnel

Not in the way I meant. They're a pretty responsible company. Their parent is Micron who's produced very good components >20yrs. They were generally thought of as a semiconductor vendor. (The United States' only die-hard memory manufacturer.) Crucial was created as their end-user & retail brand ~96 for ready-to-install memory modules of all form factors.

I'd say Crucial is "price-conscious", not "budget".

Bratwurst

Forgot to come back and let you know. Sorry this is such a late bump. I got the new stick and it worked right away for dual channel. I got the refund via the RMA on the old stick. I gotta say I am pretty impressed Crucial did the exchange since so much time had passed. Gotta give them the big for the support.

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