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ASUS P3B-F - Does it support REGISTERED RAM-modules?



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 17th 04, 01:28 PM
Torben Birk
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Default ASUS P3B-F - Does it support REGISTERED RAM-modules?

I have a P3B-F rev1.04. I am running P3B-F ACPI BIOS 1008 beta 04.
I can't figure out wheter this MB support the Registered Kingston module:
KVR100X72RC2L/256 or not.
I'm almost sure that if it wasn't registered it would be compatible - since
it consists of 18 RAM-chips organised as 16Mx8.
According to:
http://homepage.hispeed.ch/rscheidegger/ram_bx_faq.html
the i440BX chipset generally support registered memory but advices to check
the manaul - and the P3B-F manual (1.04) is more dubious.

And why I choose this ECC memory module? - it is cheap: 40$!. And the only
256MB module I can get at present that possibly would work.

Thanks

Torben Birk Christensen
(Remove fruit to email)



  #2  
Old May 17th 04, 03:03 PM
Roy Coorne
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Torben Birk wrote:

....
the i440BX chipset generally support registered memory but advices to check
the manaul - and the P3B-F manual (1.04) is more dubious.

....

The manual -
http://www.asuscom.de/pub/ASUS/mb/sl...f/p3bf-104.pdf -
is not dubious at all - well, they don't list Kingston;-)

You may wish to check www.crucial.com Memory Upgrade... they offer
ECC modules which are suitable for the P3B-F.

HTH - Roy


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  #3  
Old May 17th 04, 08:31 PM
Torben Birk
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Dubious or not - we might be rigth both of us:
A fact: SDRAM modules can be registered or unbuffered (the term unregistered
is sometimes used too).

In the manual chapter 3.5 one can read:
"This motherboard uses only ...DIMMs. Sockets are available for 3.3Volts
(..) UNBUFFERED ...SDRAM.".
And further the Note:
"At the time this User's manual was written, 256MB DIMMs are only available
as double-sided REGISTERED memory".

Why mention "unbuffered... SDRAM" if both registered and unbuffered modules
will work?
Why bother the note when registered modules will work?

Possibly something like an ASUS-apology for at that time the extra price of
registered modules ??:-o
These obvious questions made me uncertain and might be the source of a
semantic battle ;-)

/Torben Birk



"Roy Coorne" skrev i en meddelelse
...
Torben Birk wrote:

...
the i440BX chipset generally support registered memory but advices to

check
the manaul - and the P3B-F manual (1.04) is more dubious.

...

The manual -
http://www.asuscom.de/pub/ASUS/mb/sl...f/p3bf-104.pdf -
is not dubious at all - well, they don't list Kingston;-)

You may wish to check www.crucial.com Memory Upgrade... they offer
ECC modules which are suitable for the P3B-F.

HTH - Roy


--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties
and confers no rights.



  #4  
Old May 17th 04, 08:47 PM
Stephan Grossklass
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AFAIR many BX boards will run registered DIMMs just fine, even if only
spec'd for unbuffered. What I find interesting is that registered
modules with 16Mx8 chips exist - x4 chips seems to be much more popular
on those, IIRC because Chipkill only works with them.

Stephan
--
Meine Andere Seite: http://stephan.win31.de/
PC#6: i440BX, 1xP3-500E, 512 MiB, 18+80 GB, R9k AGP 64 MiB, 110W
This is a SCSI-inside, Legacy-plus, TCPA-free computer
Mail to From: not read, see homepg. | Real gelesene Mailadr. s. Homep.
  #5  
Old May 17th 04, 11:55 PM
Roy Coorne
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Torben Birk wrote:
Dubious or not - we might be rigth both of us:
A fact: SDRAM modules can be registered or unbuffered (the term unregistered
is sometimes used too).


Right.

In the manual chapter 3.5 one can read:
"This motherboard uses only ...DIMMs. Sockets are available for 3.3Volts
(..) UNBUFFERED ...SDRAM.".
And further the Note:
"At the time this User's manual was written, 256MB DIMMs are only available
as double-sided REGISTERED memory".


= At the time the User's manual was written, unbuffered (unregistered)
256 MB DIMMs were not yet available.

Why mention "unbuffered... SDRAM" if both registered and unbuffered modules
will work?


Registered modules won't work.

Why bother the note when registered modules will work?


Registered modules won't work. I read the note as a warning to the
user to be cautious when buying DIMMs for the P3B-F.

Possibly something like an ASUS-apology for at that time the extra price of
registered modules ??:-o
These obvious questions made me uncertain and might be the source of a
semantic battle ;-)


Yes, the note is not as clearly written as possible;-)


Roy


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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties
and confers no rights.
  #6  
Old May 18th 04, 11:11 AM
Roland Scheidegger
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soupy wrote:
On Tue, 18 May 2004 00:55:53 +0200, Roy Coorne
wrote:


Registered modules won't work.


Why bother the note when registered modules will work?


Registered modules won't work. I read the note as a warning to the
user to be cautious when buying DIMMs for the P3B-F.




It's odd that Registered DIMMS are supported on the P2B-F, but not the
P3B-F.


Maybe it's because some of the p2b series board are considered more or
less "professional" boards, also used in small servers (p2b-ds at
least), in these applications usually registered ecc ram is used.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure registered ram will work just fine on the p3b-f,
as always you just can't mix registered and unbuffered. Asus tells you
you NEED to use registered ram if you have more than 2 modules on ALL
boards with bx chipset, regardless the board model (that is, of course,
not exactly true neither).
http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq094_MBIT.htm
groups.google.com will tell you the same.

Roland
  #7  
Old May 18th 04, 09:49 PM
Roy Coorne
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Roland Scheidegger wrote:
soupy wrote:

On Tue, 18 May 2004 00:55:53 +0200, Roy Coorne
wrote:


Registered modules won't work.


Why bother the note when registered modules will work?


Registered modules won't work. I read the note as a warning to the
user to be cautious when buying DIMMs for the P3B-F.





It's odd that Registered DIMMS are supported on the P2B-F, but not the
P3B-F.



Maybe it's because some of the p2b series board are considered more or
less "professional" boards, also used in small servers (p2b-ds at
least), in these applications usually registered ecc ram is used.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure registered ram will work just fine on the p3b-f,
as always you just can't mix registered and unbuffered. Asus tells you
you NEED to use registered ram if you have more than 2 modules on ALL
boards with bx chipset, regardless the board model (that is, of course,
not exactly true neither).
http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq094_MBIT.htm


It's funny: This Asus page links to Crucial for an explanation of
'registered', and Crucial informs on the P3B-F: "Module Types
Supported: Unbuffered only".

groups.google.com will tell you the same.


Yes, there are postings about P3B-F boards run with registered DIMMs.
Very strange all that, indeed; didn't Crucial do their homework?

Roy

  #8  
Old May 18th 04, 11:21 PM
daytripper
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On Tue, 18 May 2004 22:49:19 +0200, Roy Coorne wrote:

Roland Scheidegger wrote:
soupy wrote:

On Tue, 18 May 2004 00:55:53 +0200, Roy Coorne
wrote:


Registered modules won't work.


Why bother the note when registered modules will work?


Registered modules won't work. I read the note as a warning to the
user to be cautious when buying DIMMs for the P3B-F.




It's odd that Registered DIMMS are supported on the P2B-F, but not the
P3B-F.



Maybe it's because some of the p2b series board are considered more or
less "professional" boards, also used in small servers (p2b-ds at
least), in these applications usually registered ecc ram is used.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure registered ram will work just fine on the p3b-f,
as always you just can't mix registered and unbuffered. Asus tells you
you NEED to use registered ram if you have more than 2 modules on ALL
boards with bx chipset, regardless the board model (that is, of course,
not exactly true neither).
http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq094_MBIT.htm


It's funny: This Asus page links to Crucial for an explanation of
'registered', and Crucial informs on the P3B-F: "Module Types
Supported: Unbuffered only".

groups.google.com will tell you the same.


Yes, there are postings about P3B-F boards run with registered DIMMs.
Very strange all that, indeed; didn't Crucial do their homework?


When I can fill all four slots using commodity dimms and reach the 1GB maximum
supported system memory capacity, why would I buy a registered dimm that (1)
adds latency, (2) cannot extend the 1GB memory limit, and (3) costs more?

/daytripper (Perhaps Crucial got an "A" on their homework? ;-)
  #9  
Old May 20th 04, 10:56 AM
Ola A Johansson
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Default

Hi Torben!

Torben Birk wrote:
I have a P3B-F rev1.04. I am running P3B-F ACPI BIOS 1008 beta 04.
I can't figure out wheter this MB support the Registered Kingston module:
KVR100X72RC2L/256 or not.
I'm almost sure that if it wasn't registered it would be compatible - since
it consists of 18 RAM-chips organised as 16Mx8.
According to:
http://homepage.hispeed.ch/rscheidegger/ram_bx_faq.html
the i440BX chipset generally support registered memory but advices to check
the manaul - and the P3B-F manual (1.04) is more dubious.

And why I choose this ECC memory module? - it is cheap: 40$!. And the only
256MB module I can get at present that possibly would work.

Thanks

Torben Birk Christensen
(Remove fruit to email)


I don't know all the ins and outs of this RAM-jungle.
But I can happily report that my P3B-F rev.1.04 (BIOS 1008 IIRC) runs
just great with 2x 256MB ECC RAM (32x64 chip-config, as with all BX-boards)

HTH /Ola J

  #10  
Old May 28th 04, 09:39 PM
Jay T. Blocksom
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Default

On Mon, 17 May 2004 14:28:52 +0200, in alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,
"Torben Birk" wrote:

I have a P3B-F rev1.04. I am running P3B-F ACPI BIOS 1008 beta 04.
I can't figure out wheter this MB support the Registered Kingston module:
KVR100X72RC2L/256 or not.
I'm almost sure that if it wasn't registered it would be compatible - since
it consists of 18 RAM-chips organised as 16Mx8.

[snip]

ITYM "32Mx72"; but beyond that, I think your subsequent suspicion is correct.
Alas, I don't have a P3B-F manual handy at the moment, so I'm unable to
confirm this definitively; but I strongly suspect that it will not properly
support buffered ("registered") memory. ECC os OK -- recommended, even -- but
many BX-chipset mobos require unbuffered DIMMs, even tho' _in_theory_ the
underlying chipset does not.

That said, have you tried setting *all* timings and similar to their
slowest/default values? Note, you may need to install the old DIMMs in order
to access the BIOS SETUP facility, in order to make these changes; then shut
down, reinstall the new DIMMs, and try again.

And why I choose this ECC memory module? - it is cheap: 40$!. And the only
256MB module I can get at present that possibly would work.

[snip]

Not all *that* cheap; and by no means the only suitable module. See:

http://castle.pricewatch.com/search/searchmc.idq?cr=PC100+256MB+ECC&qc=%22PC100%22*+AN D+%22256MB%22*+AND+%22ECC%22*+AND+%40ctd+33&i=33&c t=Computer&c=System+Memory&mi=N&m=N


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