ASUS SK8N only supports 3.3 GB of RAM
Hello, I was quite surprised after inserting four 1 GB DIMMS into an ASUS SK8N to watch the BIOS count up to 3.272 GB and stop. Then I read the manual, (rather than spec sheet that I used to select the motherboard). The manual says: "4. When all four sockets are populated with 1 GB DIMMS (total 4 GB), the system may detect only 3+ GB (a little less than 4 GB) due to the southbridge resource allocation." So... this configuration leaves about 700 MB of RAM unused! Shame on me for not reading the manual. The ASUS SK8V (VIA K8T800 chip set) has the exact same comment in the memory install section of its manual. Does anyone know: Is the mapping of the Southbridge a design choice made by ASUS, or a limitation of these chipsets? Can anyone recommend a motherboard (based on first hand experience) that will allow an Opteron 246 to address all 4GB in 4 x 1 GB DIMMs? Thanks! Chuck
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:36:48 -0700 Chuck Robertson <Charles.Robertson@Colorado.edu> wrote:
Does anyone know: Is the mapping of the Southbridge a design choice made by ASUS, or a limitation of these chipsets?
It's a BIOS limitation. It should be possible to program the on CPU memory controller so that it maps the memory around the holes. In that case it would need to increase the hole size and map the fourth DIMM beyond the 4GB boundary. See the BIOS&Kernel programmer's manual from the AMD site for details. It's not directly dependent on the southbridge. -Andi
participants (2)
-
Andi Kleen
-
Chuck Robertson