RM Ascend 1010b (ASUS P5VDC-TVM)

[adamchapman]

Hi All,

I'm pulling my hair out with these RM machines!!

I'm trying to upgrade the RAM in these to 1GB. They currently have 512MB installed.

I have purchased a few different memory sticks from different manufacturers that are recommended by ASUS, but the motherboard is only accessing half of anything I throw at it.

SO, I contacted RM who tell me that they are the only people that can supply a specific memory module for these machines as they are tweaked specifically for this system.
I find it hard to believe that this is the ONLY stick of memory that is compatible with these machines and wondered if anyone else has found something compatible with these?

The working memory is HYPERTEC - HYMAS7501G-RM

Non working is - Kingston & Integral DDR2 533Mhz 1GB non-ECC unbuffered

I'm not prepared to pay RM, when I can see equivalent stuff for £10 cheaper a stick - bearing in mind I'm upgrading 60 machines!!

[chris_uk]

Have you spoken to RM about the price? I've always found them to be good at dropping prices.

[adamchapman]

Yea, they've already dropped the price to £22 a stick from 30 something..

I'm finding other stuff out there for £12.

[SYNACK]

Have you tried upgrading the BIOS? From the looks of it the board should support standard memory just fine unless RM have crippled it.
ASUS P5VDC-MX / P5VDC-TVM Memory Upgrade
Computer memory upgrades for ASUS P5VDC-TVM Motherboard from Crucial.com

[adamchapman]

Thanks - that crossed my mind and is next on the list of things to try.
But the RM supplied stuff does work though. I'm wondering if there is something RM specific built into the mobo that rejects other branded stuff....

[ajs]

Thanks - that crossed my mind and is next on the list of things to try.
But the RM supplied stuff does work though. I'm wondering if there is something RM specific built into the mobo that rejects other branded stuff....

I was unable to find a newer BIOS when I attempted to upgrade two of the IT Suites last summer (summer 2009) and was unable to find anything.

I went through a similar sort of conversation with RM and in the end it was cheaper (and a lot easier unfortunately) to buy 2GB sticks and just deal with the fact that the board would only see 1GB of it.

I do however, have a school that has a whole load of machines just like the ones you're trying to upgrade that have all been upgraded to 2GB. Unfortunately, due to me moving jobs, I'm not likely to visit the school again to find out what stick of RAM is actually in there.

I will however, email the technician who'll be taking over from me and getting him to crack open a case and find the type of RAM that's installed, if that would be any help?

[adamchapman]

Hiya - it would be a help if you could...

Cheers Al

[ajs]

Not a problem.

Emailed the technician who'll be taking over from me, will let you know what he says after half term :-)

[synaesthesia]

Lots and lots of experience with these. DO NOT TRUST ANY DDR2 regardless of the specifications you may find around.
DDR1 only. Expensive but you're only reliable option I'm afraid.

[adamchapman]

Sorted... got the ram from MrMemory and worked 100% first time.
Always good to get one over on RM!

[ajs]

Sorted... got the ram from MrMemory and worked 100% first time.
Always good to get one over on RM!

Indeed!

Glad to hear you got it sorted. How much did it cost in the end?

[adamchapman]

£18.50 a stick.

[synaesthesia]

Is there a particular part number for this?
Will be very useful indeed - got a school in a sticky wicket for this and at the time of searching as per my previous post, it was impossible to get the DDR2 to suit.

[ajs]

£18.50 a stick.

Certainly sounds like a bargain. Let's just hope the screens hold up now ;-)

[dgsmith]

Sorted... got the ram from MrMemory and worked 100% first time.
Always good to get one over on RM!

Is there a particular part number for this?

Sorry to bump the thread but I am also interested in knowing what RAM part number this was for the DDR2 sticks. Also, anyone know if these boards support core 2 CPUs (would be the first gen ones)? I know the Asus site (for the similiar P5VDC-MX) says it does for PCB rev2.0 or higher, though not sure which PCBs these boards are.