memory problem on an Abit AV8 3rd eye motherboard

Hi. I have a memory problem on an Abit AV8 3rd eye motherboard. With a Winchester3000+ 64bit CPU. And a Levicom. 500w psu. Self built about 14 months ago. Originally it had a pair of Double rank TwinMos 512mb PC3200 DDR 400 memory sticks installed in Slots 1&2. The bios was Version 17.
At boot . I got Memory information of, DDR 400, dual channel enabled, 128 bit, Memory clock is DDR 400.
A Month ago I ran The Crucial System scanner. It suggested that I could improve the pc performance by increasing the memory with 512 mb of pc3200 DDR 400, but that it would be even better if I used a pair. So I bought a pair installed them in slots 3&4.
At boot . I got Memory information of, DDR 333, dual channel enabled 128 bit,
Memory clock is 333.
When I contacted Crucial they said to check the two TwinMos sticks to see if they were double or single rank as slots 1&2 and 3&4 must not all be the same. So I had to replace the Crucial ones to single rank.
At boot ALL the information was the same. DDR 333.
I removed the TwinMos sticks and put the Crucial ones in slot 1&2 And all (info) was DDR 400. And the same in slots 3&4.
Thinking it could be a BIOS problem I flashed it to Version 26. Still all the same.
It does not matter what configuration I install the four together I still only get DDR333 .
Crucial now tell me that with memory. quantity is more important than speed, and to run the PC with all memory install. I don’t know but that doesn’t seem right.
Has any one got any thoughts on this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Ken Marjoram.

 

Well first of all Crucial is right, memory quantity is much more important than memory clock. What I believe to be the problem is a motherboard limitation. Many motherboards will not run at DDR 400 with DIMMS in all slots, or over a GB of memory, or various other situations. I suggest you check your motherboard specs.

 

Another issue may be that TwinMos is not supported by Abit.

 

the motherboard manual states that if double rank chips are in slots 1&2 and single rank in slots3&4 memory speed is DDR 400. In my case the memory speed is DDR333.

TwinMoss on ther own in slots 1&2 or 3&4 run at DDR 400

 

I realize this, but unsupported RAM, and mixing RAM brands can lead to all kinds of funky issues that may not make much sense.