Ram problem...

[Aider]

Hello there,
I have a problem with my motherboard/ram....
I had 4gb of ram(2x2gb Trancend Jetram 1333mhz) and today I bought another set but of a different brand(2x2gb Kingmax 1333mhz ram).
PC boots fine, but when I check the basic information of my computer it picks up 8gb ram but says only 3.99gb is usable.... I further checked in bios and it showed that it disables DIMM slots 3 & 4 but picks up that there is ram there.... so far i've got no idea what to do.....
Specs:
Windows 7 ultimate x64
RAM: 4x2gb 1333mhz
mobo: GA-p55a-ud4p (gigabyte)
Processor: i5 760 at 2.8ghz
Gfx card: MSI cyclone 460 1GB

Any help/feedback would be much appreciated.

Regards,
Aider

 

[Pada]

Install the different RAM slots such that Transcend modules are in slots 1 & 3 (eg. in blue slots), and Kingmax in slots 2 & 4 (eg. in white slots).

Btw: are you sure that the RAM voltages are the same? The RAM voltage is the most important factor.
With the timings, you can always just decrease it to the slowest of the 2 pairs - like I'm currently running 2 sets of 2x2GB: TeamGroup DDR3 1600MHz CL8 + Corsair XMS DDR3 1600MHz CL9, but both are 1.65V !

Edit:
There might be an option in the BIOS to enable memory remapping.

 

[Aider]

Hi Pada, first of all thanks for the reply, but its seems as though i fixed the issue!
I read somewhere that one of the sockets pins that might be bent could cause this problem... turns out that there was a bit of thermal paste in the socket!
Anyway i removed it and it worked!
I'm looking forward to SLi'ing my 460's when i get the cash , btw your app works wonders....

Regards,
Aider

 

[Pada]

Great.

Just ensure that you have at least a decent 550W PSU if you're going to SLI the GTX 460's!
I would actually recommend a 600/650W PSU though, so that you have enough headroom to play with.

I'm currently running 2x MSI Cyclone GTX 460 1GB OC and it's really awesome

 

[Alan]

I want to purchase one stick of 2gb DDR2 800mhz Patriot ram but it's stated as 1.9v while my two Patriot 1 gig sticks are 1.8v. All the other specs are the same. Chances of compatibility problems?

 

[MiY4Gi]

Like Pada said, you'll probably have to match the voltages of the ram. Drop the voltage of the 2GB ram to 1.8v or increase the 1GB sticks to 1.9v.

 

[Pada]

I would recommend that you rather get 2GB DDR2 800MHz that is also 1.8V like your current sticks, otherwise you will risk damaging (either to over voltage/-heating) your old sticks.
Rather sacrifice on the RAM timings than getting modules with different voltages.