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Thread: DDR ram

  1. #1
    Junior Member
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    DDR ram

    Hello,

    Im a newbie here.

    Here's my system

    Running XP professional

    AMD Athlon Processor

    Motherboard: Asus ECS K7S5A

    Radeon 7000 / Radeon VE
    Dual Video card

    Quantum FireballP AS 30.0 Hardrive

    512 SDRam

    Here's my question. I wanted a little more speed since I do some 3d Cad stuff.
    So...I bought 2 sticks of 512mb of ddr ram...installed it (took out the sd ram of course) and when i started the computer the system showed only 512 ...Im totally clueless on what to do..Any help would be great.

    I did a search on the specs on my motherboard and it says I can upgrade to max of 1 gig.

  2. #2
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    Add only ONE new stick of RAM at a time and make certain each is working properly.

    I read the specs for that board and it supports BOTH SDR (older RAM) and DDR. Is one of the new sticks in one of the OLDER (I believe black) SDR slots? Make certain you consult the manual and make certain both of the new sticks are in the DDR (I believe blue) slots.

    Even though the RAM is notched, it can still be placed into the wrong socket.

    Post back your results!

  3. #3
    Senior Member lptech's Avatar
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    jaigon-

    Your system specs is incomplete! What is your power supply's wattage rating? How many optical drives (CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD-ROM and/or DVDRW) do you have?The ECS K7S5A motherboard requires at least a 350-watt rated power supply to operate properly.

    Have you read from the manual what memory modules works with the systemboard? Are the memory modules listed on their compatibility list? Are you making sure that they are installed properly? A memory module that is not installed properly will sometimes not be read.

    LPTECH

  4. #4
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    DDR ram

    Quote Originally Posted by apocalypse
    Add only ONE new stick of RAM at a time and make certain each is working properly.

    I read the specs for that board and it supports BOTH SDR (older RAM) and DDR. Is one of the new sticks in one of the OLDER (I believe black) SDR slots? Make certain you consult the manual and make certain both of the new sticks are in the DDR (I believe blue) slots.

    Even though the RAM is notched, it can still be placed into the wrong socket.

    Post back your results!

    Hi there,

    I tried each individual stick in each blue slot one at a time and the sticks seem to work , its just my system doesn't recognize if i put both 512 sticks to total 1 gig . Btw way i dont have a manual either. I was reading some other info on the web about maybe have to flash the bios.

    I was in a rush and bought the two sticks at best buy...(too expensive)

    Anyways...i returned it and will look for cheaper ddr ram at the local small computer stores.

  5. #5
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    [QUOTE=lptech]jaigon-

    Your system specs is incomplete! What is your power supply's wattage rating? How many optical drives (CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD-ROM and/or DVDRW) do you have?The ECS K7S5A motherboard requires at least a 350-watt rated power supply to operate properly.

    Have you read from the manual what memory modules works with the systemboard? Are the memory modules listed on their compatibility list? Are you making sure that they are installed properly? A memory module that is not installed properly will sometimes not be read.

    LPTECH[/QUOTE

    LP Tech,

    300watt power supply
    AMD Athlon Processor 750 mghz
    ECS K7S5A motherboard
    Radeon 7000 / Radeon VE
    Dual Video card
    Quantum FireballP AS 30.0 Hardrive
    CDROM
    CDRW
    Floppy drive

    I read the specs on the ECS website and it says it will support upto 1 gig of DDR ram. I was reading other info on the web about perhaps flashing the bios?

  6. #6
    Ultimate Member Rocketmech's Avatar
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    I would load optimized defaults in the bios setup, and then make sure of the following

    Dram Timing - Normal
    SDR/DDR CAS Latency - SPD
    CLK GEN Spread Spectrum - Enabled
    S2K I/O Comp - Enabled

    If you got your ram from BB then its probably the cheap Kbyte stuff (PQI) and might not be compatible . The K7S5A is really picky about quality ram. I always had good success with Crucial with that board, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145005

    A bios update may help...

  7. #7
    Ultimate Member
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    The board isn't picky, just revealing. If your power supply is **** or your SDRAM isn't really up to spec, you might not have noticed in the system these came from, but you will with the K7S5A.

    Power supply is critical because this board follows the old style of power distribution, running the CPU off the 5V rail not 12V as in newer boards. RAM quality is critical because the Athlon and the fast SiS 735 chipset will push a lot of traffic onto SDRAM.

  8. #8
    Member Baxdaddy's Avatar
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    don't really

    need a manual with this website still around..

    http://p199.ezboard.com/bk7s5amotherboardforum

    I second the crucial comment. My family has 3 machines built with this board and all have crucial DDR. In 2+ years we have had 1 bad drive and 1 bad psu out of the 3. It won't overclock without the HoneyX flash. I am still stock speed until I see what I will need for Vista then I can burn one up and get new gear to handle Vista.

  9. #9
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    Thanks all for the info....ill do more some more reading and post my results.

  10. #10
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    You're getting lots of good advice...glad you are settling down and doing your homework.

    Utilize the Crucial.com memory configurator (or Kingston). Answer the questions and Crucial will tell you which modules are GUARANTEED to work. This is the most bulletproof way of upgrading memory...my 70-something year old mom used Crucial to upgrade her Dell memory. Superior support at Crucial, also.

    Sounds like you lucked out and probably have compatible modules, but my guess is that your system isn't "caching" more than 512 in its present state. I think that if it was a power issue, you would get random re-boots with memory errors.

    Harvest all the info that you can from Crucial and be prepared to flash your BIOS only IF your research indicates that it is necessary.

    If you choose to update (flash) your BIOS, follow all precautions and instructions exactly. A foul-up can be "fatal".

    Good Luck,
    JF

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