
Socket A (GA-7DXR) And Memory
I have a slightly older machine that has a Gigabyte GA-7DXR motherboard and uses 2 x 256 mb PC2100 DDR ram (using 2 out of 3 ram slots). I would like to get some more ram. The problem is: I've heard that some Socket A boards require the memory sticks to be of identical brand AND size for them to work, would that apply to me? I took a quick look through my motherboard manual and couldn't find any specifics. I also recall hearing (a long time ago) that in order to use all 3 memory slots on this board, all ram has to be registered ram and that if it's not, only 2 slots can be used.
The motherboard however contained some slightly confusing "Total Memory Sizes" table that seemed to only use memory sticks of the same size. To add to the confusion: the motherboard manual states that the maximum amount of unbuffered ram for this board is 3 GB, whilst the website
http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-7DXR.htm says that it's 2 GB (2 x 1GB) for unbuffered and 3 GB (3 x 1GB) for buffered. As if this wasn't enough, I ran Sisoft Sandra and took a look at the details on memory: it showed me that 2 out of 3 memory slots are in use by 256 mb sticks and that the maximum installable memory is... 512 mb... WTF?
So now my questions are: can I get more ram into this machine? If so, what ram do I get? Will I have to use a 3rd 256 mb stick or would a 512mb one work? Or are my worst fears true and I can only use 2 slots with unregistered memory and will have to replace one of the existing 256mb sticks with a 512 mb one?