RAM Question

[ishredNH]

My desktop Puter has 4 gigs of RAM. I need to add more because I'm going to be editing 1080p video next week. My motherboard has 4 slots for the RAM. Each slot has a gig of ram in it. Do I need to replace each slot with a 2 gig+ card or can I upgrade just 1 or 2 of the slots? Does it even matter? My computer has a quad core processor and is liquid cooled so yes it can handle it. I know there are some computer dudes on the forum so i figured I'd ask. Thanks!

[Robk0000]

what OS are you running, i beleive xp and vista are limited to 4gbs max.

[ishredNH]

what OS are you running, i beleive xp and vista are limited to 4gbs max.

vista 64

[drdabbles]

Vista 64 should be able to handle well over what you can fit in that board....or afford. :up:

On a Core2Quad, RAM works in pairs. So, you have to upgrade slot 1&2 and 3&4 as the pairs. So, leave your 2GB DIMMs in slots 3&4, toss some 4GB modules in 1&2.

I will say, you should probably check out the prices on a site like crucial.com. Prices are so cheak, you might just do 4x4GB. But, please don't get sucked into the "ballistix" or the "this ram is insane and will make sammiches for you" nonsense. Just get regular branded RAM. It's almost all made in the same fab at Hynix anyway. :lol:

[Gearhead Geek]

vista 64

You're fine. x86 OS's can only utilize 3.25-3.5 gigs, but x64 can go much higher. Depending on which version of Vista you're using the max is different, but if I recall Home Premium can go up to 8.
You can just swap 1 or 2, although I'd recommend doing 2 (on the same channel) for proper dual channel operation. Try to stick with ram with similar timings & base operating voltage so that you don't have to go tweaking timing/voltage too much.

In terms of brands, I'm a huge fan of G.Skill or Mushkin. They tend to use good chips on theirs compared to some of the off-brands.
Also, keep in mind that if you're at all overclocked, the more sticks of ram you have, and the greater size they are, the more stress it's gonna put on your Northbridge, so you may have to up the voltage on that a bit.

[ishredNH]

Thanks dudes that answers my question and then some. I appreciate it.

[jonny-rockets]

Vista 64 should be able to handle well over what you can fit in that board....or afford. :up:

On a Core2Quad, RAM works in pairs. So, you have to upgrade slot 1&2 and 3&4 as the pairs. So, leave your 2GB DIMMs in slots 3&4, toss some 4GB modules in 1&2.

I will say, you should probably check out the prices on a site like crucial.com. Prices are so cheak, you might just do 4x4GB. But, please don't get sucked into the "ballistix" or the "this ram is insane and will make sammiches for you" nonsense. Just get regular branded RAM. It's almost all made in the same fab at Hynix anyway. :lol:

this. for the most part. check out your mobo documentation, sometimes they do funky stuff like pair 1&3 / 2&4 for the dual channel. watch deal sites for ram. i got 4gigs of crucial ballistix for like $40 a while back. (2x2g sticks).

buy a reputable brand, and just get the best deal you can find

[AExiOn]

a lot of good information has already been said

If your going to replace all 4 slots, make sure you get a low cas latency.


Or you could say screw it and go with a mobo with DDR3 ram..

am thinking about it.. car needs to be fixed first lol

[ishredNH]

I installed the RAM on my computer today. I picked up 8 gigs (4x2gb) and swapped everything out. When i started my computer windows wouldn't load so I pulled 1 & 3 and put the 1 gbs ones back in. It works fine now. I'm running windows vista 64 basic which has an 8gig cap. I noticed that each card has a little more RAM on it than claimed. I'm runing 2 1g and 2 2g cards and it says it has 6141mb available. I'm taking a guess that that little extra is why windows wont boot when I have all 4 installed. What you guys think? Thanks in advance :D

[jonny-rockets]

nah the extra is the difference of calculating ram sizes the metric way instead of the binary way. 10^x instead of 2^x.

its the same reason you buy an 80gig hard drive and your OS sees 74 gigs or whatever the number is. not that anyone buys 80gig drives anymore, but you catch my drift. (1024 megs to a gig, not 1000)

I would check your motherboard BIOS, you may need an update to use all 8 gigs. (hope this is the solution).


Its also possible that the 8gb cap on vista may not like you filling up 8gigs of ram + your video card ram.

its so dumb they would cap a 64 bit OS at 8 gigs of ram, but there is microsoft for ya.

[ishredNH]

nah the extra is the difference of calculating ram sizes the metric way instead of the binary way. 10^x instead of 2^x.

its the same reason you buy an 80gig hard drive and your OS sees 74 gigs or whatever the number is. not that anyone buys 80gig drives anymore, but you catch my drift.

I would check your motherboard BIOS, you may need an update to use all 8 gigs. (hope this is the solution).


Its also possible that the 8gb cap on vista may not like you filling up 8gigs of ram + your video card ram.

its so dumb they would cap a 64 bit OS at 8 gigs of ram, but there is microsoft for ya.

I will check the bios. If it's not that I will prob use this as my motivation to upgrade to windows 7. Thank man

[AExiOn]

what motherboard are you running?

motherboards can only handle up to a certain amount of ram

[ishredNH]

what motherboard are you running?

motherboards can only handle up to a certain amount of ram

Asus P5N-E SLI nforce 650I SLI MB. It can take 8 gigs.

[Gearhead Geek]

Are you up to date on service packs? I know there was a bug in Vista x64 originally that made it not play well with 4+ gigs

[OMG.EVO]

Check the software too. Not sure about video editing, but I've run into issues with CAD software before where, regardless of the hardware/OS it would only use so much memory without a hack.

[drdabbles]

Check the software too. Not sure about video editing, but I've run into issues with CAD software before where, regardless of the hardware/OS it would only use so much memory without a hack.


Mmmm. PAE. What a waste of time. We should have just gone 64bit 10 years ago when it was actually possible. :( Like everything else in computers, nobody ever thought the need for several hundred GIGS of RAM would happen. Surprise! :lol:

Anyway, like everybody else said, be sure to get the latest BIOS and Win updates. It's possible one of the sticks of RAM is bad. It's rare, but it does happen.

[Gearhead Geek]

Also, try bumping the ram voltage up to 2.1V or so, as well as try bumping up your NB voltage.
Also, when you said Windows wouldn't load, did you mean it started loading and then BSOD'd, or did the computer just not post? (No POST would indicate voltage or MB issue, BSOD would indicate the possibility of a bad stick, or possibly, as I said before, the bug in Vista that made it poop w/4+ gigs, assuming you're not up to date on updates)

[AExiOn]

http://www.emofaces.com/en/emoticons/p/popcorn-eating-emoticon.gif

what could the problem be!!!

[ishredNH]

Also, try bumping the ram voltage up to 2.1V or so, as well as try bumping up your NB voltage.
Also, when you said Windows wouldn't load, did you mean it started loading and then BSOD'd, or did the computer just not post? (No POST would indicate voltage or MB issue, BSOD would indicate the possibility of a bad stick, or possibly, as I said before, the bug in Vista that made it poop w/4+ gigs, assuming you're not up to date on updates)

When I put in all 4 it wouldn't even begin to load windows. So I put the 2 g cards in slots 1 and 3 and the 1 g cards into 2 and 4. It started to load windows then froze. I reversed the above setup and it is running with 6 gigs just fine now. I make a point to keep my computer as up to date as it possibly can be. I know how to navigate the BIOS but I have never messed with the voltage or anything like that. This is my first custom built computer I've been slowly learning what everything does. On a side note you guys know your **** and I've already learned a ton just from your replies haha so thanks! :up:

I haven't had time to mess with it again I will later tonight or tomorrow morning I'll let you know how it goes.

[ishredNH]

Here is what I've done...

I've tested all the RAM and it all works fine. The BIOS recognizes all 4 sticks when they are installed. I messed with the voltage in the BIOS to the recommended setting according to G.skill. Windows still WILL NOT BOOT. Vista Basic 64 allows 8gigs, my mobo allows 8 gigs. I have SP2 installed...I don't get it. Why will it recognize 6 but not 8? I think im going to kick babies.

[Gearhead Geek]

Here is what I've done...

I've tested all the RAM and it all works fine. The BIOS recognizes all 4 sticks when they are installed. I messed with the voltage in the BIOS to the recommended setting according to G.skill. Windows still WILL NOT BOOT. Vista Basic 64 allows 8gigs, my mobo allows 8 gigs. I have SP2 installed...I don't get it. Why will it recognize 6 but not 8? I think im going to kick babies.

Did you bump up the northbridge voltage at all as well or just the ram voltage?

[ishredNH]

Did you bump up the northbridge voltage at all as well or just the ram voltage?

Just the RAM voltage. I don't know how much to bump this stuff up. I'm trying to research it on my own but quite honestly I don't really know where to look. I'm in territory I barely understand at this point lol. The Ram says 1.8-1.9v if that helps.

[Gearhead Geek]

Just the RAM voltage. I don't know how much to bump this stuff up. I'm trying to research it on my own but quite honestly I don't really know where to look. I'm in territory I barely understand at this point lol. The Ram says 1.8-1.9v if that helps.

Try bumping the ram up to 2.0v or 2.1v most good DDR2 will support this no problem. If that doesn't solve it, poke around for a setting labeled something like NB Volt, NB Vcore, etc. The current value could vary depending on your motherboard/chipset.
If setting the ram to 2.0/2.1v doesn't fix it, raise the NB voltage up in SMALL increments. Depending on your board you may get different ammounts you can raise it at a time. Go VERY slow with it (single incremental increases, test, repeat if needed). Usually you should only need to go up a few 1/100th's (eg: 1.32 to 1.35, etc) to take care of it.
If you start getting up much over 1 or 2 10th's or so (eg: 1.32 up to 1.42 or 1.52), then it may be something more and you should hold off.

Give that a shot and report back.

[ishredNH]

Try bumping the ram up to 2.0v or 2.1v most good DDR2 will support this no problem. If that doesn't solve it, poke around for a setting labeled something like NB Volt, NB Vcore, etc. The current value could vary depending on your motherboard/chipset.
If setting the ram to 2.0/2.1v doesn't fix it, raise the NB voltage up in SMALL increments. Depending on your board you may get different ammounts you can raise it at a time. Go VERY slow with it (single incremental increases, test, repeat if needed). Usually you should only need to go up a few 1/100th's (eg: 1.32 to 1.35, etc) to take care of it.
If you start getting up much over 1 or 2 10th's or so (eg: 1.32 up to 1.42 or 1.52), then it may be something more and you should hold off.

Give that a shot and report back.

Ok I did all of that and still wouldn't work. Now it won't even get through the BIOS startup with all 8 gigs in which is weird. I set everything i changed back to AUTO in the setup and am running 6 gs again. There are updates for the Mobo regarding memory but if it will recognize 2 of the new DIMMS i dont see why it won't recognize 4. I am hesitant to update the mobo because I was reading if something goes wrong during the update there's a strong possibility of having a sweet mobo frisbee. I don't have to have all 8 gigs but i bought them and I want to make them work if possible. Should I just contact ASUS and go from there?

[jonny-rockets]

i would update your mobo. there is a chance of a brick but its real slim. say, if the power went out during the 30 seconds while the f/w was being flashed.

updating motherboard firmware works wonders at times. i think for newer asus boards its easy too, you can download the firmware onto a flash drive, and update from within the BIOS itself.

[ishredNH]

and the update...FAIL

Basically 8 gigs wont work with the Mobo. It keeps getting hung up in the BIOS now and won't let me even enter setup. ASUS says It's suppose to work fine but the more research I do the more i find people with the same problem and they are unable to get past 6 gigs. They tried everything I have tried and way more and it still won't work. It's not worth it to me at this point. The mobo was first put on the market in 2007 it looks like which in computer years is as I understand it OLD.

That being said I did install windows 7 and adobe CS4 and they are glorious. o well. If I was to CONSIDER upgrading the mobo what kind of project would something like that be? Is it fairly simple or should I seek help from someone who knows their ****? I appreciate all the help guys I've learned a lot. This stuff is complicated!!!!

[Gearhead Geek]

and the update...FAIL

Basically 8 gigs wont work with the Mobo. It keeps getting hung up in the BIOS now and won't let me even enter setup. ASUS says It's suppose to work fine but the more research I do the more i find people with the same problem and they are unable to get past 6 gigs. They tried everything I have tried and way more and it still won't work. It's not worth it to me at this point. The mobo was first put on the market in 2007 it looks like which in computer years is as I understand it OLD.

That being said I did install windows 7 and adobe CS4 and they are glorious. o well. If I was to CONSIDER upgrading the mobo what kind of project would something like that be? Is it fairly simple or should I seek help from someone who knows their ****? I appreciate all the help guys I've learned a lot. This stuff is complicated!!!!

Upgrading a mobo is fairly simple. Granted I've done it a bajillion times but on an standard computer (that is, one that's not crazy wire managed or anything) it's a 20 or 30 minute job tops (with hand tools, less w/air tools). For a first timer it probably shouldn't take you more then an hour (assuming you're comfortable working inside a computer). Just take a picture before you rip the old one out to remind you where the wires go.
As for choosing an upgrade, that too is simple. Just find a board that has the slots you need, has the socket type that your processor is, and that takes your RAM type. Other things to look for would be if it's a solid state capacitor board, and what type of secondary power connection it needs (4 pin vs 8 pin).
If you need help choosing a board, let me know and I can do some digging for you.

Also, keep in mind that 99% of the time, when you change boards (unless it's an exact replacement) you'll want to do a clean install of the OS afterwords, so the first step in that situation would be to do a data backup.

[jonny-rockets]

Also, keep in mind that 99% of the time, when you change boards (unless it's an exact replacement) you'll want to do a clean install of the OS afterwords, so the first step in that situation would be to do a data backup.

yep some great advice. to follow up, the only time you can really get away with keeping the OS you have is if you match the north and southbridge chipsets.

[AExiOn]

yep some great advice. to follow up, the only time you can really get away with keeping the OS you have is if you match the north and southbridge chipsets.


Or close to it, I've gotten away with a few VIA chipsets in the past where wasn't the same exact model match but was in the same family ;)

If your report other people with the same board having issues
I'd get rid of the board or return two dimms and be happy at 6

I havent had too much luck with G Skill lately. Though my experence is limited vs kingston, or Cusair.. I've seen DIMMS go bad after a year :unamused:

If I where you I'd say

**** this mobo
**** vista
and **** al gore just because..

[ishredNH]

Upgrading a mobo is fairly simple. Granted I've done it a bajillion times but on an standard computer (that is, one that's not crazy wire managed or anything) it's a 20 or 30 minute job tops (with hand tools, less w/air tools). For a first timer it probably shouldn't take you more then an hour (assuming you're comfortable working inside a computer). Just take a picture before you rip the old one out to remind you where the wires go.
As for choosing an upgrade, that too is simple. Just find a board that has the slots you need, has the socket type that your processor is, and that takes your RAM type. Other things to look for would be if it's a solid state capacitor board, and what type of secondary power connection it needs (4 pin vs 8 pin).
If you need help choosing a board, let me know and I can do some digging for you.

Also, keep in mind that 99% of the time, when you change boards (unless it's an exact replacement) you'll want to do a clean install of the OS afterwords, so the first step in that situation would be to do a data backup.

I would love the help :D I'm thinking im going to need to upgrade this mobo and processor. My comp is dying editing this HD footage. Its max RAM usage is 3200mb (out of 6) which is fine BUT the processor is running from 58-75% while watching 1080p and 960p vid in premiere pro. I know part of it is the mpeg-4 format my go pro camera saves the vid as but it's still proving to be a pain. ON TOP of that I BSOD when i start really taxing the system. (it's not overheating) The BSOD started after I installed the DIMMs when i was running vista (only happened once or twice) Now Im running windows 7 and it only seems to happen when i'm working on HD footage (3-4 times in the past 2 days). I put my old DIMMs back in for now. This computer was purchased June 2008

SPECS:

ASUS P5N-E SLI NFORCE 650I SLI mb
INTEL quad core Q6600 2.4 ghz processor
2 sparkle geforce 8500gt 512mb pci-e vid cards
Sigma Shark 635 watt power supply
120mm watercooler
Dimms are DDr2 PC6400

[ishredNH]

UPDATE

I bought a new mobo, CPU, and did the swap all by myself. Powered it up and worked perfect first time through. I've never done anything like this before so i was stoked that i had no issues doing this. The DIMMs I purchased work great with my new setup. Thanks for the help everyone!!!

[jonny-rockets]

good to hear! congrats man