Exceptional Dell PowerEdge 2900 DDR2 667MHz Fully Buffered DIMM memory upgrades

Gain system power in your Dell PowerEdge 2900 server by installing more memory. Trust PRO Memory Upgrade to provide beyond compatible expansion options for your server with a Dell PowerEdge Fully Buffered DIMM RAM upgrade.

• Your Dell PowerEdge maximum RAM capacity: 48GB
• The PowerEdge 2900 has 12 memory slots or sockets
• This PowerEdge module upgrade PIN count is: 240-PIN
• The memory speed is: DDR2 667MHz, PC2-5300
• The server DIMM type for your PowerEdge 2900 is: FBDIMM, FB-DIMM, Fully Buffered DIMM

Memory

You can upgrade your system memory to a maximum of 48 GB by installing 533MHz or, when available, 667MHz fully buffered DIMMs (FBDs) in dual sets of 256-MB, 512-MB, 1-GB, 2-GB, or 4-GB. The memory sockets are located on the system board beneath the cooling shroud. See Figure 6-2.

NOTICE: If you remove your original memory modules from the system during a memory upgrade, keep them separate from any new memory modules that you may have. Use only 533 MHz or, when available, 667 MHz FBDs.

The memory module sockets are arranged on the system board in two equal branches (0 and 1). See Figure 3-21. Each branch consists of two channels:

• Channel 0 and channel 1 are in branch 0.
• Channel 2 and channel 3 are in branch 1.

Each channel consists of three DIMM sockets:

• Channel 0 contains DIMM_1, DIMM_5, and DIMM_9.
• Channel 1 contains DIMM _2, DIMM_6, and DIMM_10.
• Channel 2 contains DIMM_3, DIMM_7, and DIMM_11.
• Channel 3 contains DIMM _4, DIMM _8, and DIMM_12.

The first DIMM socket of each channel has white release tabs.

Figure 3-21. DIMM Sockets

General Memory Module Installation Guidelines

To ensure optimal performance of your system, observe the following guidelines when configuring your system memory.

• Use only qualified FBDs. FBDs can be either single-ranked or dual-ranked. FBDs marked with a 1R are single-ranked and modules marked with a 2R are dual-ranked.
• A minimum of two identical FBDs must installed.
• DIMM sockets must be populated by lowest number first.
• FBDs must be installed in pairs of matched memory size, speed, and technology, and the total number of FBDs in the configuration must total two, four, eight, or twelve. For best system performance, all four, eight, or twelve FBDs should be identical memory size, speed, and technology.
• Memory sparing and memory mirroring require eight or twelve FBDs, and all FBDs must be of identical memory size, speed, and technology.
• Memory sparing and memory mirroring cannot be implemented at the same time.

Non-Optimal Memory Configurations

System performance can be affected if your memory configuration does not conform to the preceding installation guidelines. Your system may issue an error message during startup stating that your memory configuration is non-optimal.

Memory Sparing Support

The system supports memory sparing if eight or twelve identical memory modules are installed in the system. The memory sparing feature must be enabled in the System Setup program and can be used only if memory mirroring is not enabled.

Memory sparing allocates four ranks of DIMM memory to the spare bank of memory sparing. These four ranks consist of the first rank of memory in DIMM sockets 1 through 4. For single-rank DIMMs, the entire capacity of the four DIMMs is allocated to sparing whereas for dual-rank DIMMs, only half of the four-DIMM capacity is allocated to sparing. Table 3-1 shows how memory sparing splits the available and spared memory in each of the single- and dual-ranked memory module combinations.

Table 3-1. Memory Sparing Configurations