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unbalanced ram. duel channel soldered memory (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I have a e14 Thinkpad gen 5 Intel 1335u with 8gb soldered ram and a 8gb 3200 ddr4 stick. 16 is not enough ram for my use as a developer so I put a 16gb stick in knowing only first 16 will run dual channel. Now my computer crashes randomly with high memory usage... read online that a 32gb is more stable single channel but I'm skeptical. Stability is pretty important to me as this is how I earn a living what do you all think? Also I would just buy a 32 and try it but everything got pricey the last 2 month

s

EDIT: ran memtest after crashes got worse, went back to stock 8gb and gave up. Some weird issue with used 16 stick

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[–] -2 points 10 months ago* (8 children)

If the RAM timings are not exactly the same, you're going to have instability issues. This is why it's always recommended to install pairs of the same exact model and brand, the clock timings.

I doubt that BIOS is going to give you the specs you need, but somewhere you'll likely be able to find the timings and compatible memory for this machine. You'll generally need something faster than what's installed so it can step it's timings down to be more in sync.

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  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    Any reasonably modern memory controller will clock the memory at the slowest one in dual channel. This hasn't been an issue for decades.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    You know, I had the same thought/opinion on Sunday before I spent 4 hours trying random combinations of leftover ram before I found a combo that would boot on my am4 board. Up to 48GB ram on my server now

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    The memory controller is part of the CPU, you probably need a new one.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Maybe, but it seems to be fine with matched speed ram. I think my issue at least is due to it being 1st Gen Ryzen. Originally on 32GB 2133mt/s, upgraded to 48GB 3200. Some light reading in-between switching ram sticks suggested not mixing G1 (2133,2400,2666,2933) & G2 (3000, 3200, 3600+) ddr4. And that is what my, testing found. Again, could just be 1st Gen issues tho.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    100% untrue. While a North Bridge controller can detect and attempt to set the clock frequency, there is absolutely no way to tell if both pieces of a mismatched pair will actually support the timings suggested or set by the controller, which will almost certainly default to whatever the on-board memory supports.

    That along with the unknowns of whether it attempts to set channel ranks, which is almost certainly NOT an option to manually configure in a Thinkpad.

    Not sure where you heard otherwise, but you've been misinformed.

    This machine is also working with memory soldered on the board which comes with a whole host of other unknowns, which is why you look up what the timings are first and attempt to match that.

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