Audio/Video Issues after upgrading RAM

Good day!

I decided to upgrade my RAM last week. Everything seemed to go perfect. My computer runs significantly faster/smoother!!

But...

I have stumbled upon an annoying audio/video problem...

Almost every time I go to full screen mode (ranging from youtube to video games), the audio slows down, crackles and pretty much sounds like poo.

When I first discover this, it was on youtube. I suspected the site might have been having issues. The next day nothing changed so I went ahead and made sure all my drivers (audio/video) were up to date and re-installed. I have 2 audio devices installed (on-board and PCI slot). The issue seemed to have been limited to my PCI audio device but today, after playing 2Moons online game, I discovered that the on-board audio device had the same issue. Maybe it's the audio? Maybe it's the video? (ISSUE OCCURS DURING FULL-SCREEN MODES EXCLUSIVELY)

My RAM is dual channel. My PC came with 2x512mb on one channel. I've added 2x1gb to the other channel.

Here are all the relevant details of my rig that I can provide:

EMACHINES T6532 Desktop PC
Windows XP SP3 - all up to date
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Processor - 2.2Ghz | 512Kb L2 Cache, 2000 MHz System Bus
Video - nVidia GeForce 6100 GPU with PCI Express Slot
200GB Hard Drive
Came with 1024DDR SDRAM Dual Channel - Added MUSHKIN 2x1GB DDR SDRAM to the proper slots
Audio - Onboard - Realtek HD Audio | PCI - Soundblaster Live! 24Bit - all with standard 3.5" outputs, no fancy shmancy stuff here!

Maybe I should remove the stock 2x512MB's and replace them with 2 more MUSHKIN 1GBs?? ...in other words, spend more money?? Or is there a better solution out there??

Thanks for your time!

Hello & welcome jayocal.

First a question if I may, how are you identifying the channels to fit memory on the system board?

If as you say your system came fitted with 2 x 512M DIMMs in one channel, it will not be running dual channel, which will reduce memory bandwidth. And if you added 2 x 1GB DIMMs to the other channel, then the system will still not be running dual channel, since dual channel (on almost all boards) requires the same size and configuration of DIMMs in each channel.

Boards normally color code the channels, eg :



For your current configuration to to run dual channel on the board above, there would normally need to be a 1G and a 512M DIMM in the slots for each color. (Their order may or may not matter, but it should be the same in each. Sometimes an unsuitable arrangement will stop a system from booting up. In that case, turn off & reverse it. I hope you are aware you must turn the system off at the mains before changing memory, not just into standby.)

If your board looks more like this:



the sequence will be different but the requirements for each channel will be similar.

Are you able to confirm please what arrangement of DIMMs you have used already, and if none have followed the color sequence with 1G & 512M in each, would you care to try it and let us know if it makes any difference to the system's behavior?

Edited by Platypus, 05 January 2009 - 08:44 AM.

Wow, thank you for your quick and thorough response!!! Amazing!!

My configuration is almost identical to the second picture. The 512M's were in the green slots. I added the 1G's to the purple slots. (And yes, I did completely power down before opening the case)

So I'm assuming that before I added the new DIMMs, my system was running on single channel mode. Then when I added the new DIMMs, that should of activated dual channel mode?? I'm a bit confused on this...two of your statements seemed to conflict: "And if you added 2 x 1GB DIMMs to the other channel, then the system will still not be running dual channel, since dual channel (on almost all boards) requires the same size and configuration of DIMMs in each channel." VS "For your current configuration to to run dual channel on the board above, there would normally need to be a 1G and a 512M DIMM in the slots for each color."

Do both channels need to be identical (all 4 DIMMs) or just the 2 DIMMs per channel??

When I bought the RAM, I was told that it may conflict with the other RAM was previously installed. Is this what is happening? Like I said, my system is running as smooth as ever except for that darn full screen audio and/or video problem.

The key factor is that each channel (color) needs the same total amount of memory arranged with the same sequence of DIMMS. So if they are all the same size, this automatically happens.

But to have 3GB running dual-channel, there needs to be 1.5GB in the green slots and 1.5GB in the purple slots. If you started out with 1GB (2 x 512M) in the green slots, then put 2GB in the purple, most boards can't operate in dual channel mode this way.

I'd suggest trying 2GB, with 1GB in the first green slot and the other in the first purple slot. This should activate dual channel mode, see if the full-screen glitches go away.

If they do, then you can try adding in the 512M DIMMS in the empty slots, if the glitches return, the old and new memory may have an incompatability.

At POST when the system hardware report is shown on the screen, the memory report may indicate whether it's running in single or dual channel mode. If not, a system analysis utility like Everest Free Edition can tell you and show changes to memory bandwidth between different configurations.

If getting the memory operation correct doesn't solve this particular problem, then at least it is eliminated as a possible cause and someone might have ideas for other possibilities.

Edited by Platypus, 05 January 2009 - 08:39 PM.

You nailed it!

As per your suggestion, I tried a 1G in the green, 1G in the purple and sure enough, dual channel was enabled and my full screen issue disappeared. Then I added the 2 x 512's to the remaining slots and sure enough, dual channel was still enabled and my full screen problem did not return!!

Thank you very much for your help. I am extremely happy that I stumbled upon BC and I'll be sure to pass the good word!

Cheers

You're welcome! Glad it's resolved.