Two Types of RAM

[focus2003]

Hi, I'm having a problem understanding the intel g41 express chipset capabilities, on the official page it says it supports ddr2/ddr3, and I don't understand which to use, currently it's 2gb ddr2 but with ddr3 I could possibly achieve even 8GBs of memory, so the question is, can a motherboard support two types of ram at once? ddr2 and ddr3?

[ricksteendam1]

which motherboard do you have?

 

[focus2003]

3 minutes ago, ricksteendam1 said:

which MB you have?

 

Do you mean motherboard? I already said, Intel G41 Express Chipset

2 minutes ago, thunar said:

check your mobo manual...

in most (if not all),u cant mix ddr2 and ddr3....

I don't mean to mix them, I just want to replace DDR2 for newer ram and I don't know if I can upgrade it to ddr3.

I've also checked everywhere, I don't have the manual but I searched through the whole internet for answers

[ricksteendam1]

if your motherboard is compatible with ddr3 yes

it would be easier if we just knew which motherboard you have (not you chip set)

 

[focus2003]

4 minutes ago, ricksteendam1 said:

if your motherboard is compatible with ddr3 yes

it would be easier if we just knew which motherboard you have (not you chip set)

 

Sorry, I'm a beginner and didn't know these were 2 different things  that's all I could find

 

[ricksteendam1]

Just now, focus2003 said:

Sorry, I'm a beginner and didn't know these were 2 different things  

do you have prefab?

[focus2003]

1 minute ago, ricksteendam1 said:

do you have prefab?

It's an old office computer  

 

2 minutes ago, thunar said:

u need to check whether your cpu and your mobo supports the type of ram....

I will be upgrading to a Xeon e5450 modded to fit lga 775, so I think it should support ddr3. I don't know about the mobo and that's why I'm here

[ricksteendam1]

2 minutes ago, focus2003 said:

It's an old office computer  

 

I will be upgrading to a Xeon e5450 modded to fit lga 775, so I think it should support ddr3. I don't know about the mobo and that's why I'm here

1

it would fit a lga771, not lga775.

but I can't find any information about your system

[focus2003]

Just now, ricksteendam1 said:

it would fit a lga771 not lga775

I said it's modded to fit lga775, and it's cheaper and produces less heat and uses less power, that's why I chose it over the q9650, a lot of people use adapters/mods to use these xeon processors

[focus2003]

do motherboards that support both ddr2 and ddr3 even exist? hybrids like that

[KenjiUmino]

1 minute ago, ricksteendam1 said:

it would fit a lga771 not lga775

there is a mod you can do to make a 771 xeon fit a 775 socket

 

6 minutes ago, thunar said:

u need to check whether your cpu and your mobo supports the type of ram....

socket 775 CPUs do not have a memory controller built in so it's all about what the mainboard supports. 

 

also, i have seen the G41 chipset being used on DDR2 and DDR3 boards.

i think i might have seen boards out there that support both (like 2 DDR2 slots and 2 DDR3 slots on the same board) but using DDR2 and DDR3 at the same time is not recommended. 

[ricksteendam1]

Just now, focus2003 said:

do motherboards that support both ddr2 and ddr3 even exist? hybrids like that

I have heard of it never seen it my self but maby it is just time for a new system I don't know your budget but if I look at it it is a lot of work for little effort 

[ashypanda]

1 minute ago, focus2003 said:

do motherboards that support both ddr2 and ddr3 even exist? hybrids like that

No, it's one or the other, it's just that the chipset can support DDR2 or DDR3, and it's up to the vendor to choose which one to implement, and Lenovo went with DDR2 for that model, so you are stuck with DDR2.

[focus2003]

1 minute ago, ashypanda said:

No, it's one or the other, it's just that the chipset can support DDR2 or DDR3, and it's up to the vendor to choose which one to implement, and Lenovo went with DDR2 for that model, so you are stuck with DDR2.

Okay, thanks for the help.

[ProjectBox153]

While the chipset itself may support two different types of memory, the motherboard (especially in a low end prebuilt) will have only one type of slot. Therefore, if you currently have DDR2, you will only be able to use DDR2 in it. There's a difference in the slot types. 

[KenjiUmino]

9 minutes ago, ashypanda said:

No, it's one or the other, it's just that the chipset can support DDR2 or DDR3, and it's up to the vendor to choose which one to implement, and Lenovo went with DDR2 for that model, so you are stuck with DDR2.

well, in the early days of socket 775 there have been boards with DDR1 and DDR2 slots on them (i have an ASUS board that has this) and i think i have seen boards with DDR2 and DDR3 on the same board as well. not 100% sure on that though

 

but either way, using both at the same time was not recommended to the point that there was a warning about doing so in the manual.

 

however, 8GB on DDR2 is not impossible - it's easy if you have 4 slots, just buy four 2gb sticks

 

but i have also seen "high density" DDR2 ram with 4gb or more on a single stick.

 

they just seem to be very rare and expensive and compatibility may not be very good.