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This item is from the PC Hardware FAQ, by Willie Lim and Ralph Valentino with numerous contributions by others. (v1.25).

2.29 Do I need to fill the "dirty tag" RAM socket on my motherboard?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

Perhaps you don't *have* to for the board to run, but the missing RAM will cost you performance. Most "write-back" mbs cope with the missing RAM by treating all lines as dirty. You get a lot of unneccessary write cycles; you might even do better with write-through.

Your bargain-basement no-documentation no-brand mb might not have the pullup resistor on that socket, and it might run for a second, ten minutes, or ten years with that pin not driven. I think it's a pointless risk to leave the socket empty.

 

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