User's Manual

1-12 Chapter 1: Product introduction
1.7.2 Memory congurations
You may install 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB unbuffered non-ECC DDR2 DIMMs into the
DIMM sockets.
Recommended Memory Congurations
Mode
Sockets
DIMM_A1 DIMM_A2 DIMM_B1 DIMM_B2
Single-Channel
- - Populated -
Populated - - -
Dual-channel (1) Populated - Populated -
Dual-channel (2) Populated Populated Populated Populated
When using only one DDR2 DIMM, start installing it from DIMM_A1 or DIMM_B1 for
better overclocking capability.
For dual-channel conguration (1), install two identical DIMMs in DIMM_A1 and
DIMM_B1.
For dual-channel conguration (2), you can:
- install four identical DIMMs in all four slots; or
- install one identical DIMM pair in DIMM_A1 and DIMM_B1 (yellow slots) and
another identical DIMM pair in DIMM_A2 and DIMM_B2 (black slots).
Always install DIMMs with the same CAS latency. For optimum compatibility, it is
recommended that you obtain memory modules from the same vendor.
When you install a total memory of 4GB or more, Windows
®
32-bit operating system
may only recognize less than 3GB. Hence, a total installed memory of less than 3GB is
recommended if you are using a Windows 32-bit operating system.
This motherboard does not support memory modules made up of 128Mb chips.
This motherboard supports up to 16GB on a Windows
®
XP Professional x64 and
Windows
®
Vista x64 Edition. You may install a maximum of 4GB DIMM on each slot.
The default memory operation frequency is dependent on its SPD. Under the default
state, some memory modules for overclocking may operate at a lower frequency than
the vendor-marked value. To operate at the vendor-marked or at a higher frequency, see
section 2.4 Ai Tweaker menu for manual memory frequency adjustment.
The memory modules may require a better cooling system to work stably under full
loading (4 DIMMs) or overclocking setting.
Some old-version DDR2-800 DIMMs may not match Intel
®
’s On-Die-Termination (ODT)
requirement and will automatically downgrade to run at DDR2-667. If this happens,
contact your memory vendor to check the ODT value.
Due to chipset limitation, DDR2-800 with CL=4 will be downgraded to run at DDR2-667
by default setting. If you want to operate with lower latency, adjust the memory timing
manually.