I also tried Call of duty 2 with 1.3 patch, but single core is able to handle it with 85+ fps most of the time. During heavy firefight in later missions it can drop to about 50-60 fps which is still manageable. Graphics details on maximum. This is probably where you would benefit from dual core.

In Company of Heroes I have found it impossible to defend territory with just infantry and vehicles even on easy difficulty as AI attacks multiple sectors simultaneously. Any tank left unattended will get destroyed by AI AT gun. It's probably better to build machine gun nests and AT guns. Still, AI is very good at finding weak spots. The problem is mainly in 2 player maps as the front is wide. This is an issue in skirmish games. In campaign it is manageable as AI is easier. It will not swarm you with tanks.

I tried what happens if you run with 3x 1GB DDR400 (Kingston HyperX mixed with OCZ Platinum) and we get a reboot after BIOS applies memory settings with Turion 64 MT-40. This happens with Command Rate 2T, +0.2V memory voltage and conservative timings. Using single sided Kingmax 512MB DDR400 for 2.5GB RAM didn't change anything.

The motherboard did boot at lower DDR speed so DDR333 is likely possible with 3GB RAM. DDR333 is only suitable for someone wishing to run Windows Vista/7 due to lower speed.

While there existed unbuffered DDR400 with ECC, these will likely not improve memory stability at 3GB + DDR400. They were suitable mostly for home users. I found that the BIOS of Gigabyte GA-K8NE does contain a couple of settings which seem to be activated only if ECC memory is present. The following Kingston modules are unbuffered ECC: KVR400X72C3A/1G

To run 3GB at DDR400, likely registered memory modules are needed. These are very rare. If anyone has them and got them working in socket 754 then let us know. The following Kingston modules are registered ECC: KVR400S4R3A/1G , KVR400D8R3A/1G

AlexZ wrote on 2026-07-07, 20:23:

I found that the BIOS of Gigabyte GA-K8NE does contain a couple of settings which seem to be activated only if ECC memory is present. The following Kingston modules are unbuffered ECC: KVR400X72C3A/1G

My Gigabyte motherboard also has these options in the BIOS.
I suppose so.

Because I’m definitely using non-buffered ECC modules (9 chips on each side).
But these options don’t appear in the BIOS.
I can only see them using the MODBIN utility for AWARD BIOS.
Well, it won’t make any difference anyway. Buffered modules reduce the electrical load on the bus, whereas ECC ones will simply result in Windows displaying messages saying a memory error has occurred. That’s all.

I managed to get 4x unbuffered ECC KVR400X72C3A/1G for 5€ each, new ones, never used, in original package (seller has 5 more, but I don't need that many). They have manufacture date 2010/2011, not sure who used ECC DDR1 back then! It's probably why they never sold.

When I put them into Gigabyte GA-K8NE, enter BIOS and press ctrl+F1 I see additional ECC related settings in Advanced Chipset Settings.

They don't work with Command Rate 1T or CAS 2 at DDR 400 with 2 sticks as these are not high performance sticks.

After very basic testing, they appear to work at these timings with 2 sticks
- Tcl 2.5, Tras 7T, Trcd 3T, Trp 2T, Trrd 2T, Trc 9T, Trfc 14T, Trwt 2T, Twr 2 bus clock, Twtr 2 bus clock, Async Latency value 7ns

Not sure why "L2 cache background scrubber" and "DCache background scrubber" don't appear without ECC memory as they are cache related and memory independent. It means scrubbing engine will proactively check L1/L2 cache for errors when idle and correct them. "DRAM background scrubber" means the same but for memory and naturally requires ECC memory. The BIOS has a typo and says "Disbaled" instead of "Disabled". If you prefer system stability you should turn these settings on.

Keep "ECC Memory Interlock" on "At Least One", that allows ECC to work in case there are mixed modules and not all support ECC.

For basic ECC stability one should enable:
- DRAM ECC feature control
- ECC MCE enable
- ECC Redirection - to write back corrected data to memory, otherwise it is corrected just in memory controller

For extended ECC stability one should also enable:
- all 3 scrubbers to scan for errors proactively. DRAM scrubber causes significant transfer penalty, memory bandwidth drops to about 60%.

For paranoid ECC stability one should also enable:
- Chip-kill mode enable - protects against entire RAM chip failures

For extended features like scrubbers or Chip-kill I found it to be best to use the sticks in Auto mode. Using aggressive timings led to problems during boot.

After playing with it a bit, I would recommend to enable DRAM ECC feature control, ECC MCE enable, ECC Redirection.

The ECC mode of unbuffered Kingston KVR400X72C3A/1G has no impact on performance. The higher memory latency is caused by Command Rate 2T as we have 2 dual rank modules.

I also tested Kingston KVR400X72C3A/1G on more boards using Turion 64 ML-34:

• Asus K8N-E (nForce 3) - boots, in BIOS there is only one setting - Master ECC Enable. No detailed settings like Gigabyte has.
• MSI K8T Neo V (VIA K8T800) - does not boot, no beeps. This board's BIOS doesn't support any ECC memory.

It is clear it is mainly a matter of BIOS whether ECC memory works or not.

If you can buy this memory for 5€ like I did then it is not a bad choice at all. It is only outperformed by high-performance sticks like Kingston HyperX, OCZ Platinum, Corsair.

Gigabyte GA-K8NE worked with 3GB RAM at DDR 333.

I managed to get hold of 2x Micron registered ECC DDR 333 1GB ( MT18VDDF12872G-335D3 ) for 4€ each. Chips are labelled as "4PD11 D9BXK", The sold item had Hynix pictures so I thought I would get Hynix but Micron arrived with the same specs.

I tested it on the motherboards I have using Turion 64 ML-34 / MT-40:

• Asus K8N-E (nForce 3) - does not boot, no beeps
• MSI K8T Neo V (VIA K8T800) - does not boot, no beeps
• Gigabyte GA-K8NE (nForce 4) - boots only with 1 registered ECC stick (1st slot). 2nd stick causes one long beep. It also leads to CMOS reset (fallback). It doesn't matter what DDR speed was selected in BIOS, whether ECC was enabled or disabled. One stick boots immediately without any problems, regardless if the board previously had non ECC UDIMM or ECC UDIMM. No special tricks are needed to boot. ECC BIOS options get unlocked and they work. Combining the registered stick with unbuffered ECC stick doesn't help. With 1 stick Memtest86 passes and the system successfully boots into Windows XP.

Given vastly different behavior with Turion 64, registered ECC memory support is clearly a question of BIOS support. Gigabyte GA-K8NE BIOS has an issue in that it only supports one registered stick. Probably a bug that got never fixed as it never intended to support registered memory. This means having 4-6 GB memory (using 2GB sticks) on socket 754 is likely impossible.

It is a pity as I managed to find a cheap source of registered ECC DDR400, 2GB in Europe for 7€.

Since I could use only 1 stick, Command Rate 1T worked. Micron stick had no problems with running at DDR 400 with 2.5-3-2-7. It would not boot with CAS 2. However, due to the register, we get memory latency as if it was Command Rate 2T, see picture - 68ns. Just very slightly worse than 2x Kingston UDIMMs at CR2. To fix the latency problem, we have to OC the stick like crazy. At 240Mhz (DDR 480) we get down to 62ns and respectable 3700MB/s read and write speed. I didn't put in much effort to stabilize it at DDR500 as increasing just base frequency would lead to CPU running at 2480Mhz which I'm not comfortable with.

With 2x non ECC UDIMM CR1 I get down to 57.5ns. The registered DIMM has to be OCed to at least DDR500 to be competitive (very slightly higher latency may be acceptable if bandwidth is much higher).

Running 1x 2GB registered ECC memory stick at DDR 400 provides write memory speed boost at slight cost of latency (can be fixed with a small OC) while running it at DDR 480 provides a big boost in read/write speed and much better latency 62ns. Due to very limited benefits, consider this route only if you manage to get the stick very cheap.