quicksilv3r Posted February 21, 2008 hey guys, I just bought an NF4 Ultra D and I have some questions concerning the ram. I have 3x mixed 512MB sticks. Only 2 sticks work in the board. I understand that. My wife has a Dell computer with 2x 256MB DDR sticks. I, for the life of me cant figure out why I cant get beyond 1GB for ram. I installed my 2x 512MB sticks (not matched at all) and then I put my wifes 2x 256MB sticks (matched I believe, same make and model) and the motherboard just does a long beep. But as soon as I take out the 2x 256MB, everything is fine again. Im on a very tight budget, so getting 2x1GB dual channel memory is out of the question for the time, but how do I go about configuring this. The 2x 512MB are double sided and the 2x 256MB are single sided if that matters at all. How would I go about doing this configuration? (sometimes i wish my asrock dual 2 didnt die, as it allowed me to use all 3x 512MB sticks with no problems) System specs DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra D AMD Athlon 64 3500+ @ 2.53Ghz 2x 512MB ram (mixed) XFX 8800GT 512MB 2x Maxtor 250GB IDE drives 40GB WD IDE LG Dvd Burner (dont remember the model) Dell 2005FPW monitor Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedEuphoria Posted February 24, 2008 well this board doesnt like mismatched ram or sometimes more than 2 sticks. 1st thig you need to do is make sure that CPC is disabled for more than 2 sticks. You will also probaly need loose timings also to get it going. I dont know what bios version you have but 704-2BTA is probly the best overall for different rams. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
red930 Posted February 24, 2008 Lanparty's are very picky with RAM. Usually 3 DIMMs is near impossible, 4 is slightly easier, but still difficult. However, that is providing everything is matched and plays nicely with the motherboard. Double sided and single sided isn't going to mix. Your best bet is just to save some cash and buy a 2x1 kit. They are cheaaap. Well, perhaps not as cheap as DDR2, but compared to what I spent on mine ($243), they're dirt cheap. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quicksilv3r Posted March 15, 2008 well good news. After playing around, I was able to get all 4 sticks to work. I believe the 2x256mb are in the yellow slots and the 2x512mb are in the orange. So now it works. Now time to tweak as best as possible because as new as the video card is (8800GT) my 3dmark scores suck compared to people with the same sort of setup as me Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedEuphoria Posted March 15, 2008 Glad you got it going, it normally takes some time and tweaking(which for some is a little over there head). I wouldnt be hung up on benchmarks too much as long as it plays your games with good results. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quicksilv3r Posted March 15, 2008 ya i know benchmarks arent the greatest, but they do give an idea of where you should be. Im not new to the scene of overclocking, but my head spins trying to figure out how the hell to tweak my computer now. Cryis runs but slowly and the sound is extremly choppy. but i have seen and heard guys with the same type of setup run alright with no choppiness. I need to figure out the FSB/HTT and ram tweaks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
swaaye Posted March 16, 2008 I am having a similar problem. I have 2x matching OCZ 1GB sticks and another 2 non-matched 512MBs. I can not get all 4 to work together. The board will simply not see all of them. Separately, the pair of OCZ work together fine and the pair of mis-matched 512s work together fine. Put them all together and it only sees 2 GB (OCZ in orange) or 1GB (OCZ in yellow). I've tried 2 different BIOSs and tried extremely lax RAM timings and clocks. Nada. I've never had a board this picky about RAM! It's no big deal. I was just trying to jam all of my extra DDR into it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bldegle2 Posted March 16, 2008 quicksilv3r, good you got it working, bummer on the game problems. the reason you are having problems is of course the obvious, the ram. even though you got it to work, they ram modules do not want to play together, thus the game hangs and jerkiness. i have run into this syndrome before with ram upgrades on older machines....you can get the unit to post and run if not taxing the ram, as soon as you make a call to the ram department (ie, put a load on it), the system knee jerks like you describe. prolly isn't a solution for the ram marriage you presently have, i have tried four matching 512 sticks in my rig to no avail, get a post, but errors with the slightest load of any kind in winders, tried all sorts of bios settings, it just doesn't work for me, so i went to 2x1gig, so much easier...i know you didn't want to hear that, but it is what it is.... laterzzzz...... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
old_geekster Posted March 20, 2008 Hey Quick, here is a link that should help you understand your board better: http://www.diy-street.com/forum/showpost.p...167&postcount=3 I have read this post at least 20 times and I learn more every time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
