896 MB RAM (1x512, 1x256, 1x128) working in gigabyte ga-5ax

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DonPedro
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896 MB RAM (1x512, 1x256, 1x128) working in gigabyte ga-5ax

Post by DonPedro »

folks,

I learned today that someone over at a german forum runs win-xp on a gigabyte ga-5ax with 896 mb ram installed. how is this possible, when the ali-v chipset a) does not allow 512mb-modules and b) allows a maximum of 768mb as defined by the chipset?

he postet a screenshot here
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RE: 896 MB RAM (1x512, 1x256, 1x128) working in gigabyte ga-

Post by Jim »

Don't know Peter, cause I can't read German. Suppose the thing to try would be either two or three 512 Meg sticks. That, if it worked might be interesting. Other thing to consider though, is it might be taking processor cycles to keep all that RAM refreshed. Might actually be slowing him down on account of that.
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Post by jsc1973 »

He has a stick of double-sided, low density SDRAM that is able to be read by that chipset. Just because ALi said that the chipset doesn't do 512MB modules doesn't mean that it can't do it. It just means it didn't do so reliably in their testing, so they didn't support the use of such modules. The Aladdin 5 is hard-coded to support up to 1GB of RAM on a board with four slots, anyway.

Since they didn't support memory sizes higher than 256MB, and the board has three slots, their "official" maximum memory size supported was 768. Again, that doesn't mean you can't use more, if you find a 512MB module that will work.
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Post by DonPedro »

The Aladdin 5 is hard-coded to support up to 1GB of RAM on a board with four slots, anyway.
quote source please!
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Post by stevenaaus »

ha ha.. guru!
So what's the maximum capacity with sympathetic memory ? 1.5 or 1gig.
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Post by DonPedro »

TATA !!!

now there is proof that an ali-5 chipset board (gigabyte ga-5ax) is capable of running perfectly

3 x 512mb = 1.5 gb of ram

"crooky" over at the nostalgia-forum at planet3dnow.de found another two 512mb sticks that are working and has posted screenshots ...

the important thing to know is that one uses dimm-modules which uses chips with the following organization:

capacity: 256mbit
organization: (depth x datalines) 64m x 4
banks: 4
adress bits (row / col): 13 / 11
page length: 2k

therefore the organization of the dimm-module is as follows:
512MB (64M x 64)
# of chips per modul: 16
# of rows: 1
page size per row: 16kb


screenshot

according to his findings so far, revision E of the ali-5 chipset is required. tests with an asus p5a 1.06 (rev. G) failed.
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Post by stevenaaus »

(If it's running stable - it's in german^%$) someone should go rewrite the Super Socket 7 wikis!

Now we need some benchmarks to see any speed penalty.
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Re: 896 MB RAM (1x512, 1x256, 1x128) working in gigabyte ga-

Post by mamba »

I'm lurking around this site sometimes (where the heck is the DL section?? I need pcr files!).
Same lurking with my Ga-5ax board, with a promise SATA controller TX2 and a Raptor (very fast) and a 9800SE on the way.

I tried 3 stick of ram PC133 512megs with strange results.

One stick of 512Mbyte is recognized as 1 stick of 1Gbyte, the memory control is ok but the system hangs after the memory check.

With two sticks installed I see 2 Gbytes of ram (I was tempted to take a picture of the post with 2Gb... :D ), but again the system hangs after the memory control.

I installed 3 sticks, but the system recognizes 2 Gbyte anyway,

With 1 stick of 128Mbyte ad 1 of 512 I can manage to enter XP, but again system hangs after the desktop is loaded.

The stick is a Trascend 32Mx8, double sided, wrong one, I know. Do I have to find one double sided but 64Mx4 and CL2?
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Re: 896 MB RAM (1x512, 1x256, 1x128) working in gigabyte ga-

Post by DonPedro »

mamba,

yes, you have to find the sticks with the correct organization of chips AND correct organization of dimm!
there are two distinct "organizations" to consider! as I have written above you absolutely need the following configuration:

organization of dimm-stick:
size 512MB, organized 64M x 64
# of chips per modul: 16
# of rows: 1
page size per row: 16kb

organization of chips per se:
capacity: 256mbit
organization: (depth x datalines) 64m x 4
banks: 4
adress bits (row / col): 13 / 11
page length: 2k
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mamba
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Re: 896 MB RAM (1x512, 1x256, 1x128) working in gigabyte ga-

Post by mamba »

This could be a nightmare search... Can you direct me to a specific model?

Meanwhile, I tested 2 sticks of 256Mbyte PC133 CL2 RAM Single sided with no luck.
Same issue, double amount of ram at post and system hangs.
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Re: 896 MB RAM (1x512, 1x256, 1x128) working in gigabyte ga-

Post by DonPedro »

maybe you get one stick here

edit:

or here
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