I am looking to upgrade memory on an MSI N1996 Mother Board which has 2x 168 pin slots and 2x 184 pin slots. I wish to know if I can go to 2GB and which memory is best to use, i.e. ECC, registered/buffered???

Hey Richard, your board has 2 x 184 DIMM slots, that are both usable, with a maximum capacity of 2GB, supported RAM types are 333MHz, and 266MHz..

Hope this is what you are looking for,

Cheers,


Memory Type DDR SDRAM Number of Memory Slots 2 x 184 Pin DIMMs Supported RAM speeds 333 MHz • 266 MHz Max Supported RAM 2 GB Memory Type DDR SDRAM Number of Memory Slots 2 x 184 Pin DIMMs Supported RAM speeds 333 MHz • 266 MHz Max Supported RAM 2 GB DDR SDRAM Number of Memory Slots 2 x 184 Pin DIMMs Supported RAM speeds 333 MHz • 266 MHz Max Supported RAM 2 GB

Unfortunatly this board does not have DDR2 support, it supports DDR 400/333/266 memory inetrface and up to 3 Gigs. Memory banks are for 184 pin Dimms.

According to motherboard manual (p. 2-9), it can support upto 2GB of DDR400 RAM int total. You can get the manual from http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=manual&maincat_no=1&prod_no=565.

PC5300 or more correctly "PC2-5300" and can work in a system that has "PC2-3200" RAM, and if mixed, they will operate at the speed of the slowest module. "PC-3200" RAM, however, is not compatible. PC-3200 is DDR SDRAM, having 184 pins. PC2-3200, and PC2-5300 are DDR2 SDRAM, having 240 pins. DDR and DDR2 modules are the same length,
but the pins on DDR2 are smaller and the keying notch is in a slightly different position.

You need to get the replacement ram all the same type ie - DDR or DDR2

And yes your motherboard should accept 2GB max

Hi safran0785,
The Asus motherboard, P4S533-MX can run two different types of memory.
(Just not at the same time & in different slots).
You can use 2, 184-pin memory, PC2700/PC2100 MHz or PC1600 up to 2GB. (1GB DIMMs) inserted in the two memory slots closest to the CPU.
Or you can run SDR memory, 168-pin PC133 or PC100MHz DIMMs up to 1GB of memory in the last two slots farthest from the CPU.
You can not run both types of memory at the same time.
The 184-pin DDR PC2700MHz memory is much faster then SDR memory.
The maximum amount of system memory supported is 2GB.

Need more information/questions, just post here.
Good luck safran0785!
Mike

CPUs Embedded 3D Ultra AGP VGA Support Socket 478 for Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 1.5GHz~2.53GHz or faster Processor
400/533 MHz FSB Chipset SIS 651 + 961 MS9317E+
SIS 651 + 962 MS9317E+(USB)
MuTIOL® Delivering 533MB/s Bandwidth Memory Supports two 184-pin DDR DIMM maximum size up to 2GB
Supports two 168-pin SDRAM DIMM maximum size up to 2GB
Support DIMMs of DDR333/DDR266/PC133 CPUs Embedded 3D Ultra AGP VGA Support Socket 478 for Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 1.5GHz~2.53GHz or faster Processor
400/533 MHz FSB Chipset SIS 651 + 961 MS9317E+
SIS 651 + 962 MS9317E+(USB)
MuTIOL® Delivering 533MB/s Bandwidth Memory Supports two 184-pin DDR DIMM maximum size up to 2GB
Supports two 168-pin SDRAM DIMM maximum size up to 2GB
Support DIMMs of DDR333/DDR266/PC133manual for this board is no longer available but above is your mobo info

i need driver msi N1996 for windows xp...please..

Hi,

Your post indicating that you are moving up from SDRAM to DDRAM shows that your motherboard is capable of either type (having both type of slots) and therefore would have been a few years old. Having said this, then your MB would have the very early version/compatibility of DDRAMs where/when 512 then was the highest readily available memory.

As most Taiwan manufacturers, Jetway would be publishing specs that are a bit just over rated in terms of their product performance unlike Asus, ABit, AOpen. Additionally, most have been known to be using the same manual for several versions of the motherboard. A similar looking motherboard can come in several versions such as those with internal video while another is an AGP slot; one versions may or may not have built-in Ethernet port. In the same token, a version may have 2 X SDRAM slots + 2 DDRAM slots or 4 X SDRAMs or 4 X DDRAMs. Again, we are talking of the same model number of the motherboard but different versions/revisions.

2 G would be right for the 4 X memory slots versions (at 4 X 512) but since you have the 2 + 2 (2 SDRAM + 2 DDRAM), maximum would only be 1 Gb (2 X 512).

Hope this be of additional help/idea. Pls post back how things turned up or should you need additional information.

Good luck and kind regards.

Thank you for using FixYa.

Hi Patrick,
I see you're point. I know this, you can not run "more than" 512MB in any DIMM slot. That is shown at the bottom of page 10 & the top of page 11. You can not run both types of memory at the same time, even though the chart looks like you could. The description term on page 10, states; Users only can install either 168-pin SDRAM Module or 184-pin DDR DRAM Module at one time. (You can't run both). You can run 4x512MB in all banks using184-pin DDR SDRAM. Or you can run 4x512MB in all banks of 168-pin SDRAMs. Total of 2GB.
So you can not run 1GB of memory in any bank.

Mike

Your board Support 168-pin SDRAM DIMM and 184-pin DDR DIMM (Can't Use DIMM & DDR SDRAM memory Together).
I would run the 184-pin DDR. Supports PC1600/PC2100 DDR DRAM up to 2BG Max. Since you have four memory slots 2x512mb of DDR PC2100 = 1GB would be plenty. You will notice programs load faster & games run smoother. Personally, 2Gb. may help but you will not see the difference. To see a difference it is not all about memory. Mb bus speed, CPU, chipset & speed of video memory all play a part with regards to Pc overall speed. You can download your manual here.: http://www.jetway.com.tw/oldweb/evisn/download/manual/index1.htm
You can download the specs of your board here.:
http://www.jetway.com.tw/oldweb/evisn/product/amd/v266b/v266b.htm
And below is a link for some good ram.:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=302039&CatId=548
This should all help you decide, best wishes!
Please vote.....