SDRAM or DDRAM in linux

[Niklaus]

Hi,

I have access to a remote linux machine. I have a root account on it.
 I need to know whether the installed RAM is SDRAM or DDRAM.
Unfortunately i will be going to the site next month when i have to
upgrade the machine with  more capacity. Few of them are hardware
related but if you know the answer please help me.

1) How do i find out when the machine is online , if it is SDRAM or
DDRAM. I tried dmidecode utility but i was not sure about the type.
Can someone help me out by pasting the output for both DDR and SDRAM
in dmidecode or similar.

2) Can both SDRAM and DDRAM be present at a time in the same
motherboard. I mean can i have 256MB of SDRAM chip and a 256 MB of
DDRAM on the same motherboard.

If yes what are the conditions.

3) Is a motherboard designed for only one type of RAM , like if we
remove all the SDRAMs can we put DDR in it or it is either designed
for DDR or SDRAM.

Regards
Nik

[Sturla Holm Hansen]

On Mon, August 28, 2006 18:40, Niklaus wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have access to a remote linux machine. I have a root account on it.
>  I need to know whether the installed RAM is SDRAM or DDRAM.
> Unfortunately i will be going to the site next month when i have to
> upgrade the machine with  more capacity. Few of them are hardware
> related but if you know the answer please help me.
> How do i find out when the machine is online , if it is SDRAM or
>
> DDRAM. I tried dmidecode utility but i was not sure about the type.
> Can someone help me out by pasting the output for both DDR and SDRAM
> in dmidecode or similar.

Can't help you with this one, sorry....
> Can both SDRAM and DDRAM be present at a time in the same
>
> motherboard. I mean can i have 256MB of SDRAM chip and a 256 MB of
> DDRAM on the same motherboard.
>
> If yes what are the conditions.

Most motherboards are designed for one type of RAM, those few who can use
both can, as far as I have seen, just use one type at a time.
> Is a motherboard designed for only one type of RAM , like if we
>
> remove all the SDRAMs can we put DDR in it or it is either designed
> for DDR or SDRAM.

As I said, most motherboards have just one type of RAM-slot...
> Regards
> Nik

Sturla

[Singer Wang]

do you know what type of machine it is?

what processor? that will usually limit your RAM choices significantly..
and in most cases you can get a type..

On Thu, Nov 02, 2006 at 09:15:46PM +0100, Sturla Holm Hansen ([e-mail]) wrote:
> On Mon, August 28, 2006 18:40, Niklaus wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have access to a remote linux machine. I have a root account on it.
> >  I need to know whether the installed RAM is SDRAM or DDRAM.
> > Unfortunately i will be going to the site next month when i have to
> > upgrade the machine with  more capacity. Few of them are hardware
> > related but if you know the answer please help me.
> > How do i find out when the machine is online , if it is SDRAM or
> >
> > DDRAM. I tried dmidecode utility but i was not sure about the type.
> > Can someone help me out by pasting the output for both DDR and SDRAM
> > in dmidecode or similar.
>
> Can't help you with this one, sorry....
> > Can both SDRAM and DDRAM be present at a time in the same
> >
> > motherboard. I mean can i have 256MB of SDRAM chip and a 256 MB of
> > DDRAM on the same motherboard.
> >
> > If yes what are the conditions.
>
> Most motherboards are designed for one type of RAM, those few who can use
> both can, as far as I have seen, just use one type at a time.
> > Is a motherboard designed for only one type of RAM , like if we
> >
> > remove all the SDRAMs can we put DDR in it or it is either designed
> > for DDR or SDRAM.
>
> As I said, most motherboards have just one type of RAM-slot...
> > Regards
> > Nik
>
> Sturla
>
> -- 
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Gilboa Davara]

On Mon, 2006-08-28 at 23:10 +0530, Niklaus wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have access to a remote linux machine. I have a root account on it.
>  I need to know whether the installed RAM is SDRAM or DDRAM.
> Unfortunately i will be going to the site next month when i have to
> upgrade the machine with  more capacity. Few of them are hardware
> related but if you know the answer please help me.
> How do i find out when the machine is online , if it is SDRAM or
>
> DDRAM. I tried dmidecode utility but i was not sure about the type.
> Can someone help me out by pasting the output for both DDR and SDRAM
> in dmidecode or similar.
> Can both SDRAM and DDRAM be present at a time in the same
>
> motherboard. I mean can i have 256MB of SDRAM chip and a 256 MB of
> DDRAM on the same motherboard.

No.
> If yes what are the conditions.

In new(er) boards lm_sensors might have the information.
Try running sensors-detect (as root)
> Is a motherboard designed for only one type of RAM , like if we
>
> remove all the SDRAMs can we put DDR in it or it is either designed
> for DDR or SDRAM.

Each motherboard (or even CPU) is designed for a certain memory type.
You cannot add DDR PC3200 to an SDRAM board.
You cannot even add ECC/Registered DDR memory to an unbuffered DDR
board.
> Regards
> Nik

Do you know the machine specs?

- Gilboa

[Tim]

On Mon, 2006-08-28 at 23:10 +0530, Niklaus wrote:
> How do i find out when the machine is online , if it is SDRAM or
>
> DDRAM. I tried dmidecode utility but i was not sure about the type.
> Can someone help me out by pasting the output for both DDR and SDRAM
> in dmidecode or similar.

Does dmidecode tell you what model motherboard you have?  If so, you can
research what it needs, that way.
> Can both SDRAM and DDRAM be present at a time in the same
>
> motherboard. I mean can i have 256MB of SDRAM chip and a 256 MB of
> DDRAM on the same motherboard.
>
> If yes what are the conditions.
> Is a motherboard designed for only one type of RAM , like if we
>
> remove all the SDRAMs can we put DDR in it or it is either designed
> for DDR or SDRAM.

What most people refer to as SDRAM and DDR are physically different.
Your board would use one or the other, unless it had multiple slots.

However, what people call SDRAM and DDR are often rather poor
descriptions, which pedantically are the same thing (they've both
"SDRAM", but the second being "double-data-rate" SDRAM).  And DDR has
variations, too.

My motherboard uses what's generally known as DDR 400 RAM, and it goes
into a DIMM socket.  But that's a 184-pin DIMM socket.  Generally, what
people refer to as SDRAM is another thing, again.

The dmidecode utility reports this for my motherboard:

Supported Memory Types:
                DIMM
                SDRAM

And if I asked for that at a computer shop, I'd get the wrong memory.
But, on the other hand, if I ask for what's described in the manual (see
below), I'd get the right thing:

2 x 184-pin DDR DIMM sockets for up to 2GB memory
  Supports PC3200/2700/2100 unbuffered non-ECC DDR DIMMs.

Another board says:

Supports PC100 SDRAM 16MB~512MB total, 256 MB maximum per 168 pin module

And that's the type that most people call "DIMM" RAM.

DIMM just means dual in-line memory module.  You need to know the number
of pins it has.

SDRAM means synchronous dynamic random access memories, which is the
techology inside the RAM.  It's used on a variety of different types of
RAM.

DDR SDRAM means double-data-rate SDRAM.

There are plenty of other types of RAM, too.  Different types are more
prevalent in server boards rather than general-purpose PC motherboards.
Find out what motherboard you have, that's really the best thing to do.
You might even find out, that way, which RAM is best suited, or best
avoided.  There are known incompatibility issues with some, and you need
to know the right type, as well as how much RAM can be installed.

[David Fletcher]

At 00:51 03/11/2006, you wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-08-28 at 23:10 +0530, Niklaus wrote:
> > How do i find out when the machine is online , if it is SDRAM or
> >
> > DDRAM. I tried dmidecode utility but i was not sure about the type.
> > Can someone help me out by pasting the output for both DDR and SDRAM
> > in dmidecode or similar.
>
> Does dmidecode tell you what model motherboard you have?  If so, you can
> research what it needs, that way.

If you can find out what make & model the motherboard is, just visit 
Crucial Memory. They've got an on line memory selector that takes the 
motherboard make & model and tells you which memory you need. Works 
every time in my experience.

Dave F

[Chong Yu Meng]

On Mon, 2006-08-28 at 23:10 +0530, Niklaus wrote:
> How do i find out when the machine is online , if it is SDRAM or
>
> DDRAM. I tried dmidecode utility but i was not sure about the type.
> Can someone help me out by pasting the output for both DDR and SDRAM
> in dmidecode or similar.

Use dmidecode to find out the MODEL and make of your
motherboard/computer. Whenyou run dmidecode, scroll down to the sections
on System Information and Base Board Information. This is what my laptop
specs look like:

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 25 bytes.
System Information
        Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.        
        Product Name: A3E       
        Version: 1.0       
        Serial Number: SSNXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
        UUID: XXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXX
        Wake-up Type: Power Switch

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes.
Base Board Information
        Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.        
        Product Name: A3E       
        Version: 1.0       
        Serial Number: BSNXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Then lookup the motherboard/computer model using Google. There is a site
called memoryworld.com or something (I forget!) that sometimes provides
information about the memory components that are suitable for the
system.

HTH

pascal chong