RIMM Job

[THE JEW (RaVeN)]

Buddy of mine has the Intel 850 board with 2 RIMMS of 64 mb PC-800 in it and 2 circuit board in the other 2 slots. My questions are:

1). Is it possible to run 2 RIMMS of 64 mb and 2 RIMMS of 128mb?
2). He can use PC-800 and PC-1066 together as long as they run at PC-800 speeds, right?
3). Are those circuit spacers actually needed?
4). The RIMMS have to run in pairs, right?

Basically, he just wants some more RAM. I don't have any experience with RIMMS so a reassurance would be appreciated.




What did you think this thread was about?

 

[zandor]

Originally posted by THE JEW (RaVeN)
Buddy of mine has the Intel 850 board with 2 RIMMS of 64 mb PC-800 in it and 2 circuit board in the other 2 slots. My questions are:

1). Is it possible to run 2 RIMMS of 64 mb and 2 RIMMS of 128mb?
2). He can use PC-800 and PC-1066 together as long as they run at PC-800 speeds, right?
3). Are those circuit spacers actually needed?
4). The RIMMS have to run in pairs, right?

Basically, he just wants some more RAM. I don't have any experience with RIMMS so a reassurance would be appreciated.

What did you think this thread was about?

I am SO pissed. I thought this thread was about something completely different.

1. If not, kill his mobo manufacturer. That'll work. I'd get a pair of 256s though...
2. Not sure ask someone else. I would expect this to be the case though.
3. Those spacer things are terminators. You need them if there's no ram in those other 2 slots.
4. RIMMs run in pairs, at least on P4s.

 

[Schro]

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes

/thread

Further comments:

3. The spacers are not terminators, they are continuity simms. Rambus memory is addressed serially, whereas traditional SD and DDR ram are addressed in parallel. The same rules that apply to electronic circuits apply to these access patterns, such that RAMBUS uses a serial connection, thus must have a complete connection accross all slots, where as with DDR, you can line up as many as you'd like.

4. If the PC 800 that you have is rated at 45ns, then you may run into an issue with 1066 at the same time, as it may identify itself to your board as 40ns PC800, and if the board decides to run at the 40ns level instead of 45, trouble awaits you. This is unlikely, yet a possible situation.