"Double Banked"

[bear]

This question is regarding what Query said when he responded to the "Memory Problems" posting.
He mentioned that there can be a problem using more than one double banked memory module on the same mobo.
Does a bank refer to the data path? and... how can you tell if it is double banked........are there numbers that identify it as such......or.......are we talking about a physical characteristic.....such as IC chips on both sides of the module? ???

[Neon]

Double banked means that there are IC chips on both sides of the stick. Older motherboards can handle a certain limit of memory density, no more. You always want to check the mobo manual, or just check Crucial's configurator to be sure.

[query]

You can't always tell by looking at the outside of the module.  Some chipsets don't support certain arrangements of banks, whether external or internal to the chips themselves.

A lot of times, vendors of cheap RAM cut costs by using more low-density chips and arranging them in banks - sometimes you can tell from the outside, sometimes not.

The safest type of DIMM to buy is a 16-chip 256 MByte module - it generally will work on most boards.  However, you can't always be sure - so ask the vendor what chips are on it, or purchase from a source that guarantees compatibility.