Gigabyte GA-P35-S3G: How to install two "different" memory sets?

**olspookishmagus** · 09-20-2017, 08:33 AM

Hello everyone and a special hello to xtremesystems.org regulars!

I'm trying to install 2 sets of "different" memory modules on the 4 slots of a GA-P35-S3G (updated to the last available BIOS: F5) and I'm troubled as to what is the correct way to do this.

But before everything some specs:

PSU: Cooler Master GX 650W
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-S3G
CPU: Intel Q9550

Now, the different memory module sets I'm trying to install are:
2x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 TWIN2X2048-8500C5D Ver 1.1
2x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 TWIN2X2048-8500C5D Ver 1.2
(in case you didn't notice, the difference is between chip versions)

According to the motherboard manual - page 15 (an accordingly colored version of which can be found here), the slots are labeled and colored as follows:

Code:

MEM_SLOT    MEM_CHANNEL     SLOT_COLOR
---------   ------------    -----------
DDRII1      0               YELLOW
DDRII2      0               RED
DDRII3      1               YELLOW
DDRII4      1               RED

(A detailed picture of this layout can be found here).

I quote from the aforementioned page of the motherboard manual:

When enabling Dual Channel mode with two or four memory modules, it is recommended that memory of the same capacity, brand, speed, and chips be used and installed in the same colored DDR2 sockets for optimum performance.

So, the sets are to be distributed as follows?

Code:

MEM_SET_MODULE  MEM_SLOT    MEM_CHANNEL     SLOT_COLOR
--------------- ---------   ------------    -----------
SET1_MODULE1    DDRII1      0               YELLOW
SET2_MODULE1    DDRII2      0               RED
SET1_MODULE2    DDRII3      1               YELLOW
SET2_MODULE2    DDRII4      1               RED

But just before that, on that very same page this is also mentioned:

The four DDR2 memory sockets are divided into two channels and each channel has two memory sockets as following:
Channel 0: DDRII1, DDRII2
Channel 1: DDRII3, DDRII4

So, the memory modules are to be installed like that?

Code:

MEM_SET_MODULE  MEM_SLOT    MEM_CHANNEL     SLOT_COLOR
--------------- ---------   ------------    -----------
SET1_MODULE1    DDRII1      0               YELLOW
SET1_MODULE2    DDRII2      0               RED
SET2_MODULE1    DDRII3      1               YELLOW
SET2_MODULE2    DDRII4      1               RED

I'm baffled and I will appreciate any help on this.