DDR memory, quality or quantity?

janila · Post by **janila** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 1:19 pm

I discussed with one of the local computer dealers about the amount of memory and he said that 1,5 gigs with three indentical 512 meg dimms isn't a good amount because dual channel support requires indentical dimms in pairs. He also assumed that a pair of 512 megs and a pair of 256 megs won't do the trick.

How does this thing work? If I get 1 gig (a pair of indentical DDR-400 dimms) of ram I won't be able to use my Drumkit From Hell Superior the way I was intending. Does the sufficient 1,5 gig of ram mean inferior overall performance? 2 gigs seems a bit too much for my budget.

Will dimms from different manufacturers work as dual channel memory? Will I run into trouble if I buy 1 gig and want to add another gig later or if I buy 1,5 gigs and add the fourth dimm later?

A bonus question: does it matter whether I choose IDE or SATA drives with a Intel D875PBZ board? Will either way affect PCI performance? I will be using 1 Pulsar, 1 Pulsar2 and a UAD-1, maybe add a Powercore Element later.

[ This Message was edited by: janila on 2004-07-19 14:19 ]

[ This Message was edited by: janila on 2004-07-19 14:20 ]

AndreD · Post by **AndreD** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:15 pm

Hi,
yes, you will need identical ram. (with serial-number)
some time ago, I bought one 512 MB module and a 2nd module 2 weeks later (same producer, same type)
it was not compatible!

AndreD · Post by **AndreD** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:27 pm

by the way, logic (pc) doas not work proper with more than 1 gb ram!

samplaire · Post by **samplaire** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 6:22 pm

This reminds me of the Bassdude thread

AndreD · Post by **AndreD** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 4:01 am

??
dual ram is really sensitive ralated to the ram parity!!!!
just make a check with memtest86..

Micha · Post by **Micha** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 4:44 am

and check if the board is tested with the pair of dimms you want to buy. I think best is to buy one pair and add another one later. Both SATA and IDE are separated from PCI in the 875 chipset.

AndreD · Post by **AndreD** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:13 am

..there is some backup-software that has problems with sata..

janila · Post by **janila** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 10:19 am

So I'm safe with buying a pair of identical dimms and if I need another pair even another brand will work as long as the pairs are identical?

How much RAM do you concider enough in heavy DAW use? I have a Powerbook which I use as software sampler and synthesizer, so the PC is just doing the mix. I'm using Cubase SX (currently 1.06, updating soon to SX2) under XP.

AndreD · Post by **AndreD** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 12:08 pm

On 2004-07-22 11:19, janila wrote:
So I'm safe with buying a pair of identical dimms and if I need another pair even another brand will work as long as the pairs are identical?

Yes!

1 GB is good for the beginning

maakbow · Post by **maakbow** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 3:26 pm

On 2004-07-19 17:27, AndreD wrote:
by the way, logic (pc) doas not work proper with more than 1 gb ram!

This is not the case.... for me at least.

I have tested several machines with 2 gigs of dual channel ddr 400 without any problem

Maak

AndreD · Post by **AndreD** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:50 am

On 2004-07-22 16:26, maakbow wrote:
On 2004-07-19 17:27, AndreD wrote:
by the way, logic (pc) doas not work proper with more than 1 gb ram!

This is not the case.... for me at least.

I have tested several machines with 2 gigs of dual channel ddr 400 without any problem

Maak

what have you tested?
to load some athmospheres, some virtual guitarrists and a lot of exs24?
have you ever got a message like "not enough memory" while saving the project or merging audio-tracks?
i don´t think so

this problem is gets worser if there are 2GB of ram in use! (PC ONLY!)

best,
andre

[ This Message was edited by: AndreD on 2004-07-23 08:09 ]

cleanbluesky · Post by **cleanbluesky** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 12:02 pm

In some instances Drumkit from Hell Superior can take up as much ram as you can shove in your machine and then some (unless you are running a high-end server) because of all the multi-sampling. IF you work in 96k then DOUBLE your RAM requirements as you will need to re-pitch the drums for them to sound good. I have 1.5 gig in my comp and it can run into problems on medium-size kits. I cannot pre-load large kits.
Having said that, DFHS is THE BEST, so its worth the trouble.

maakbow · Post by **maakbow** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:39 pm

[quote]
what have you tested?
to load some athmospheres, some virtual guitarrists and a lot of exs24?
[quote]

Yes similar situations loads of exs 24's virtual guitarists but use plenty of hungry rev plugs...i have never had {not enough memory} error

latest machine [d875pbz] 2 gig geil [average quality ram CL 2.5]
previous machine [p4c8ooe delux] 2 gig twinmos ram shows some instability issues [maybe ram related] but no error messages

mAAK

Post by **hubird** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:04 pm

.......... 'Hi, my name is Honecker and I would definitely prefer DDR RAM'