DDR RAM help !

[TidusTheCoolest]

What does Support for single-sided or double-sided DIMMs (DDR 200 and DDR 266) on a motherboard means ?

Can I use PC 3000 DDR RAM on this motherboard ?

[Alexandrus]

Single sided and double sided mean how many bank does a module use, 1 bank or two banks, but it should make no difference to you since all motherboards can handle both types of RAM. Sometimes single sided RAM overclocks better.

As for your second question, what motherboard is that ?

[Kadrien]

DDR 266 and DDR 200 are also known as PC2100 and PC1600 respectively. Single and double bank DIMMS just mean it has one or two sides of memory chips, and that only comes into question if you have multiple DIMMS, as the last bank of DIMM slots sometimes can only handle a single bank. As to using the PC3000 DIMM, it's an odd speed (DDR 183?) and would only be useful in an overclocking situation. Since I doubt a motherboard with only a 133mhz memory clock would let you clock the RAM that high, using it would be doubtful at best. Even if it did work, it wouldn't be running any faster then your average CAS 2 PC2100 RAM, and it might not even run at CAS 2. If you already have the stick, give it a try. If not, save your money and get a quality PC2100 stick.

[Alexandrus]

Kadrien, in fact, it makes no difference if a module has chips on one side or on both sides. A module can have chips on both sides and still be single sided if all the chips are considered part of the same bank.
But such modules are rare, TwinMOS and Kingston's 256 MB PC2700 modules are the only ones I know that have chips on both sides but are still single sided.

[Kadrien]

I know the sticks you're thinking of, and I have to agree; Kingston used to use the "Two on this side one on the other" arraingement a while ago. If it's a solid bank on one side, it's single bank, if it's split on both sides, it's single bank, and if it's solid on both sides, it's two banks, right? Some P4 chipsets to this day won't allow double bank RAM stick in the last RAM slot, so it's a valid point. And I think he was talking about using PC3200 (DDR400) in a PC2100 and PC1600 only motherboard, just got a bit confused over some specs. Double and Single bank DIMMS have no bearing on memory speed ratings, so stick with PC2100 DIMMS as they're cheaper.
What kind of motherboard is that, anyway, since it might be capable of faster RAM speeds then the advertised DDR266?

[BuddhaTB]

Is PC3000 the same as DDR366?

[Alexandrus]

Yep, DDR366=PC3000.
And Kadrien, you got it, those are the modules I was talking about, but now I found a very old PC133 module in my room(which is full of junk BTW) that is full of chips on both sides yet still it is single sided.

[BuddhaTB]

Is there much of a noticeable difference between PC2100 and PC2700? When I first got my Asus A7V333 Mobo, I decided to go with the PC2100 to save a few bucks. But now that I'm looking back at it, am I missing much by using the slower PC2100 instead of the PC2700?

[Alexandrus]

Nope, not much difference unless you are either using a CPU with 166MHz FSB or if you are overclocking.

[BuddhaTB]

Nope, not much difference unless you are either using a CPU with 166MHz FSB or if you are overclocking.

I'm running a AMD Athlon XP 1800+ @ stock speeds right now. I think my Athlon runs a 266MHz FSB, which would be the same as my PC2100 DDR RAM. So probably not much difference like you said. I think this is correct.

[sonyman]

Quality RAM using SAMSUNG chips can usually be overclocked well beyond the specification. Some people have reported sucess running PC2700 SAMSUNG at PC3200 speeds at CAS2!

-Scott