I have an abit nf7 2.0 an two sticks of geil pc 3200 and i can,t get it to run in 2 channel mode. is dual ddr and dual channel the same thing ? this ram was running dual in a an35 ultra shuttle mb.

As far as I know, all DDR is dual. YO

Huh? Not all DDRs are dual, they are used for single channel too. Fugro, when people talk about dual DDR, they usually refer to dual channel, but sometimes that depends on who you are talking to and the circumstances. If you have two matched sticks, try this: put just one stick in DIMM1 slot and boot it up, if it works, replace it with the other stick and boot, if both sticks work then you have two working sticks and one working DIMM1 slot. Then install the other stick in DIMM3 and boot up, if DIMM3 works you should have dual channel showing up on the screen. You can test DIMM2 the same way. If you don't get dual channel, chances are either DIMM2 or DIMM3 is not working. Of course if in DIMM1 test you have one stick not working, then you have a faulty RAM. If both sticks don't work in DIMM1, you probably have a non working DIMM1 slot because it's rare to have two bad sticks at the same time (you can verify it by install only one in DIMM3 and boot).

Thanks for clearing that up. YO

TXH, Wait a minute. So are you saying that the number of slots are what makes your computer dual channel? I have never seen a mobo with just 1 DDR slot. All I know is this. DDR stands for double data rate meaning it can send and receive data all at the same time (continuous). It's like having two pipe lines. One is constantly flowing in while the other is constantly flowing out. Where as regular old SDRAM only has one pipe line. It flows data out and then it switches and flows data in. It can't do both at the same time. That is why regular SDRAM is set to 100 or 133MHZ. And that is all it gets. But DDR gets twice the amount meaning 133/166/200/etc., X2=dual channel to me. YO

Dual channel is a technology built into the board's chipset...it's not the RAM that's dual channel, it's the chipset that operates the RAM in dual channel mode. Basically, it's a way of taking two separate sticks of RAM & combining their bandwidth. For example...instead of 2 sticks of PC3200 operating at a bandwidth of 3200mb/sec, dual channel would run the 2 sticks of RAM as a single unit at 6400mb/sec. This has been mentioned several times before, but the max bandwidth of a system is determined by the FSB. On a 200mhz(400) FSB system, the max bandwidth would be 3200mb/sec, so running PC3200 in dual channel mode (6400mb/sec) on a 200mhz FSB system is useless.

If someone asks if they can run PC133 RAM on a board designed for 100mhz FSB, the answer is usually something like, "yes, but it will only run at PC100 speed because of the limitation of the FSB". Most people understand & accept this answer. I don't understand why the dual channel question/answer isn't as obvious? Q. Can I run PC3200 RAM in dual channel mode on my 200mhz(400) FSB system? A. Yes, but it will only run at PC3200 speed because of the limitation of the FSB.