Issue 1: DDR2 pairs don't play nice together, why not?

Hello !
I did but no one replayed, had about 100 views ,I Thoth maybe someone know something, it doesn't hurt to ask.

thomnet said:

My existing RAM is the Silverline from Mushkin. pc2-6400 / 800Mhz. It runs in either ganged to unganged mode just fine when it's plugged into slots A1 and B1.

I can likewise plug in the new memory (2x4GB bought on Amazon, Ninix) into slots A2 and B2 and it runs at 800Mhz just fine IF I REMOVE THE MUSKIN memory. It will not run if both types are plugged in AS DESCRIBED.

With 2 sticks of RAM you use slots A1 and A2, or B1 and B2 not A1 and B1 etc. It's known as channel A and channel B.

With 2 matched pairs -
1st pair in A1 and A2
2nd pair in B1 and B2

if I'm reading the OP correctly, he is trying to pair up non paired RAM by using the wrong slots combination, that is -

1st pair A1 and B1

etc

I downloaded cpu-z and the Hynix (not Ninix as I posted) only had one column of specs on the far right (JEDEC #1), whereas the Mushkin had 3 columns filled. The only difference was CAS Latency, which was 5 for the Hynix and 6 for the Mushkin. Changing the timing on each bank had zero affect on ability to run the OS.

There were 4 combos of the 2 banks and I tried them all. BTW the last parameter is tRAS (Row Address Strobe).

The BIOS allows setting the RAM parameters independently for each bank, which they refer to as DCT0 and DCT1. Odd nomenclature. Why not call the bank A or B?

cpu-z lists the RAM from both companies as PC2-6400 (400 Mhz). The Hynix is made by Hyundai Electronics, part # Zhidian4GDDR800, which is apparently also sold by Samsung and Kingston.

No matter what combination of parameters and slots I tried, the two sets (each set is a pair of 4GB sticks and are a matched set, but the two sets are not matched) will only work together at 667Mhz.

If only 1 set is put in the system (8GB total RAM) it will run at 800Mhz no matter which set I use.

I thought if I could set the CAS Latency to match the spec for each manufacturer I would get 800Mhz, but that wasn't the case. I set the CL to 5 for DCT0 for the Hynix and set CL to 6 for DCT1 but it would still only run the combo at 667Mhz. When each set is the only set in the system (8GB) I get 800Mhz.

I use the cpu-z specs I see with only 1 set is in the system running at 800Mhz when I set values manually for each bank (DCT0 or DCT1) with all banks populated.