ram issues?

[Spawn-Inc]

i have 2 sticks of 512mb ddr400 pc 3200 2 different brands
1 is ultra
2 is well i'm not sure it came with the computer

anyway there setup as dual channel and i know for dual channel you want the 2 sticks to be the exact same but does it also have to be the same brand too?

what can be the effects if not exactly the same?

is dual channel better than single?

i have half life 2, day of defeat source, half life 2 lost coast

all 3 freeze at somewhat random spots would it be becuase of the ram?

before i had the second stick of ram and before i had a new harddrive i never had freezing problems also i just updated the vid drivers so it shouldn't be that

any suggestions

[a.Bird]

I'm not a memory expert but I do have quite a bit of experience. Incorrect RAM setups can cause all sorts of problems. One troubleshooting method that I would recommend for the time being is running your HL2 games with just one stick of 512mb and seeing if you get the same lock up problem. If your game does freeze again, I'm sure it has nothing to do with your memory.

All in all, my humble, moderate - somewhat advance input is that if the timings on both sticks of RAM are equal, you should be able to take full control of your mobos dual channel capabilities. Please take this with a grain of salt.

May I ask why you don't opt to buy two brand new sticks of 1GB Corsair?

[Spawn-Inc]

you said it minty madness


once i find a job in hvac and refrigeration then i will start spending money on a awsome setup but then i won't have time for it :( ohwell

but i will try and run 1 stick and it works fine then i will set it up as single channel

[.Maleficus.]

Hmmm... I don't know if game freezes would be necessarily be RAM related, though it is possible. Other system specs. would be nice.

But yeah, if you don't have 2 exact sticks of RAM, I don't recommend using dual-channel. I'd only use it if you bought a matched pair set _for_ dual-channel purposes.

[Spawn-Inc]

gigabyte 8i915gmf
intel pent 4 HT 3.0 GHz LGA775
ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express Edition Radeon® X1300 Series Graphics 256mb
1gb single channel DDR400 PC 3200 (2x 512mb sticks)
seagate barracuda 250gb 7200.10 sata
300 Watt enermax PSU


i have changed the ram back to single channel and it seems not to freeze anymore on my system i also before turned off anti-aliasing on all my source games and that's what i thought the problem was until yesterday it still froze so right now single channel seems to be fixing it for now

[a.Bird]

Why don't ANY of us up and do that? Yep. That's right. -> $$$$$$$ :down: I wouldn't know considering I have no idea what every single member's financial situation is, so thanks for answering on behalf of the entire TBCS community. :up:

[xmastree]

all 3 freeze at somewhat random spots would it be becuase of the ram?

before i had the second stick of ram and before i had a new harddrive i never had freezing problems also i just updated the vid drivers so it shouldn't be that

any suggestions
Why not test the RAM thoroughly?
Grab yourself a copy of this (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html), make the disc and boot it. You'll see a memory test option there.Let it run for a long time.

[xRyokenx]

I have 512mb Kingston ValuRAM, and 512mb Mushkin. They work fine dual-channel, but that's because the specs are identical. It's most likely the difference in specs if it's the RAM.

[progbuddy]

Different latency timings would account for such a problem. Also, if they have different operating frequencies they won't usually work together.

[Spawn-Inc]

well i used cpuz and it said one stick was 166, 200, 266 (i think) and the other was 166, 200 i know trhat one had 3 levels and the other 2

[a.Bird]

Different latency timings would account for such a problem. Also, if they have different operating frequencies they won't usually work together.
Yes I second this.

And by the way, Jeremy. I don't appreciate being threatened with such a hostile tone. Let it be publicly noted. :)

[Spawn-Inc]

Why not test the RAM thoroughly?
Grab yourself a copy of this (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html), make the disc and boot it. You'll see a memory test option there.Let it run for a long time.

oh i didn't even see this haha, yes my friend recomended the same thing but he said you need to run it for 20 hours or something which is to long for me. also i think i have fixed the problem by having it run in single channel. i played through half life 2 lost coast without any problems and the same performance

[monoflap]

An easy way to make sure you don't have a bad stick is to just use one at a time and keep switching them out. If they all work, they might not be compatible, to test that, try using one stick of both brands in dual channel. That way you can narrow it down.

[Spawn-Inc]

my dad uses mem pro is that any good!??! i think it's suspose to free up ram and tells you how much is free at any one given time

[Mitternacht]

Your Welcome. Although my post wasn't in any way sarcastic, your smart-ass remarks have been noted for future refernce.

It's not wise to start a battle of wits with me right now, when you come unarmed.

-Jeremy
Where did I threaten you? I just said it's not WISE to start a battle of WITS when you are UNARMED. (drrrrr)

get it? It's a joke. Let that be publicly noted. And in case you HAVEN'T noticed, the TBCS community pretty much is broke half the time bro.
Sorry to burst your bubble.

-Jai

Your talking to yourself?! Now I've seen everything! :D

[Airbozo]

I use the UBCD at work every day and if there is a memory problem it will usually show up in the first hour at most. Memtest is a good burn in tool since it tests most of the motherboard components _except_ the disk controllers and I/O.

[xmastree]

An easy way to make sure you don't have a bad stick is to just use one at a time and keep switching them out. If they all work, they might not be compatible, to test that, try using one stick of both brands in dual channel. That way you can narrow it down.
Just to throw a spanner in the works here, I once had a board with two identical 512 sticks. It would fail memory tests with both in, but on their own, each was fine.
I swapped one with a 512 from another machine, different brand etc., and it was fine.
:?

[a.Bird]

Where did I threaten you? I just said it's not WISE to start a battle of WITS when you are UNARMED. (drrrrr)

get it? It's a joke. Let that be publicly noted. And in case you HAVEN'T noticed, the TBCS community pretty much is broke half the time bro.
Sorry to burst your bubble.

-Jai
Let this be the last time I hijack the original topic of this thread, but Jeremy, you need to cool it with the abstract connotations you are giving me. Clearly calling me a Smart Ass is not clever nor is it a joke. The reason I asked why he doesn't spend money on dual channel memory is because unless he does, there is no way around using single channel. The timings are obviously off and maybe he just hasn't considered getting new memory. I don't know, that's why I asked him. Anyways, you seem to be a respected member I'll try to be more sensitive with my words when I speak to you. Take care.

[Spawn-Inc]

is there a difference in dual channel and dual channel interleaved? i have switch my ram sticks around in this order.
slots:
1 Ultra 512mb DDR400 PC3200 (added)
2

3 Samsung 512mb DDR400 PC3200 (came with computer)
4

the way i had it before was as follows.
1 Samsung 512mb DDR400 PC3200
2

3 Ultra 512mb DDR400 PC3200
4

and when i started up windows it said "Memory runs at Dual channel" (i am pretty sure it said that) but now it says "Memory runs at Dual channel interleaved"

does this mean anything?