Disappointing Memory Boost?

Hi Folks,

Originally there was a single stick of memory inside from Swissbit (also low density) which was 1 single stick of 512 MB RAM, PC 2700 DDR-SD RAM, Timings: 2.5-3-3-7

Below the Benchmark readings from Everest Home Edition done after flashing a BIOS Update last summer:

Memory Read: 2401 MB/s
Memory Write: 941 Mb/s
Memory Latency: 117.3 ns

As I felt that it was high time to install some memory, as it is getting tougher day by day on the consumption of memory, I just bought 2 sticks of:

G. Skill F1-3200PHU2-GBNS, Timings 2.5-3-3-6.

So I installed the made in Taiwan Sticks and noticed an immediate difference in the speed the programs come up which is positive, but would not want to write home about it. So I made some Benchmarks again with Everest and here are the readings:

Memory Read: 2897 MB/s
Memory Write: 1004 MB/s
Memory Latency: 100.8 ns

I think the details below will give you a fair idea about the system and I will gladly supply further details if you need, I have Everest Home and also PC Wizard 2006.

CPU Properties
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4HT
CPU Alias Northwood Hyper Threading
CPU Stepping D1
Engineering Sample No
CPUID CPU Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz
CPUID Revision 00000F29h

CPU Speed
CPU Clock 3198.53 MHz (original: 3200 MHz)
CPU Multiplier 16.0x
CPU FSB 199.91 MHz (original: 200 MHz)
Memory Bus 199.91 MHz

CPU Cache
L1 Trace Cache 12K Instructions
L1 Data Cache 8 KB
L2 Cache 512 KB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)

Motherboard Properties
Motherboard ID 06/18/2005-PT800-8237-6A7L2M4DC-00
Motherboard Name MSI MS-7042

Chipset Properties
Motherboard Chipset VIA Apollo PT880
Memory Timings 2.5-3-3-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
Command Rate (CR) 2T

SPD Memory Modules
DIMM1: G Skill NS 1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.5-3-3-6 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM2: G Skill NS 1 GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.5-3-3-6 @ 200 MHz)

BIOS Properties
System BIOS Date 06/18/05
Video BIOS Date 10/22/03
Award BIOS Type Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Award BIOS Message W7042MLN V1.34 061805 15:23:47 MEDIONPC LN
DMI BIOS Version 6.00 PG

Graphics Processor Properties
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Video Adapter nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (MSI FX5200)
GPU Code Name NV34 (AGP 8x 10DE / 0322, Rev A1)
GPU Clock 250 MHz
Memory Clock 202 MHz

Sensor Properties
Tsystem 40 °C (104 °F)
Tcpu 34 °C (93 °F)
Fcpu 1406 RPM
Vcore 1.50 V
Vio 3.26 V

So now I would really like to know how come there is hardly a big difference in the Readings with a 512 MB Swissbit Stick and a G. Skill 2 x 1024 MB.

What can be done to improve the poor performance of this machine?

Regards,

Rista

 

Thanks for your response TonyT.

And what determines the PC 2700 bottleneck in this case?

 

It sounds from your post that you went from running your memory at 166Mhz (PC2700) to running your new RAM at 200Mhz(PC3200). That's a 20% increase in bus speed. Interestingly, your memory read speed had a 20% boost as well.

Latency is probably more a function of the RAM itself and its settings and not your bus speed.

 

According to the tech person (a year and a half or so ago!) the manufacturer had installed that memory (PC 2700) being far cheaper at the time compared to PC 3200 memory. He could also have used PC 2100 if he had wanted to. Therefore I wouldn't want use that as a yardstick to measure the increment in performance.

Having just shelled out Euro 152 here in Germany (ca. 204 USD! in the US on NewEgg only 154 USD) is giving me a feeling of having made a very bad investment. I just got it yesterday and may be I can even return it (I haven't spoken to their customer-support yet, but would prefer to keep and explore if there is a possibility of improving it somehow. I am not into games nor into overclocking.

I had these for my daughter's desktop actually, but she won't settle for anything less than a Sony Laptop with Vista on it! So it would seem I am stuck with it unless I find a paddle to go down the creek!

Would therefore appreciate any ideas in those directions at the moment..

Rista

 

I guess I'm not sure what your goal is. Are you looking for a specific system throughput mark? Or simply a feeling of "hey this system is really fast! ".

There are two upgrades that have never impressed me. One is a cpu upgrade and the other is a memory upgrade. With RAM, you simply need an optimum amount to prevent it from bottlenecking your system and causing too much reliance on your hard drive.

Two upgrades that have often impressed me are video card and hard drive. No component will bog down your system more than a slow hard drive and no component will make a bigger difference in one's gaming (if one games) than a new video card. Upgrading cpu and RAM has always resulted in a "eh, that's it?" sort of feeling.

Maybe I'm waxing philosophical a bit here but I don't think you're going to get a "feeling" of improved speed with a RAM upgrade.

At the moment, the "fastest-feeling" PC in the house is a Socket A rig running an Athlon XP mobile at 2.0Ghz. It reacts much faster than my two Socket 939 PCs even though it has half the RAM. The reason...it has so much less crud(software) loaded on it.

 

Exactly, that is how I feel about this upgrade!

 

There is one thing that was baffling me is that the Memory Controller on the MoBo is Dual Channel (128 bit) but in the Active Mode it is showing as Single hannel (64 bit). As a result of this it is boosting up the Performance and the corresponding Readings only half way up. I have confirmed that the MoBo is Dual Channel which also Everest is showing as below:

North Bridge Properties
North Bridge VIA Apollo PT880
Revision 00
Package Type 829 Pin HSBGA
Package Size 3.75 cm x 3.75 cm
Core Voltage 1.5 V
In-Order Queue Depth 12

Memory Controller
Type Dual Channel (128-bit)
Active Mode Single Channel (64-bit)
Bank Interleave 4-way

Memory Timings
CAS Latency (CL) 2.5T
RAS To CAS Delay (tRCD) 3T
RAS Precharge (tRP) 3T
RAS Active Time (tRAS) 6T
Row Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC) 14T
Command Rate (CR) 2T
Write Recovery Time (tWR) 3T

Memory Slots
DRAM Slot #1 1024 MB (DDR SDRAM)
DRAM Slot #2 1024 MB (DDR SDRAM)

AGP Controller
AGP Version 3.05
AGP Status Enabled
AGP Device MSI FX5200 (MS-8919)
AGP Aperture Size 128 MB
Supported AGP Speeds 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x
Current AGP Speed 8x
Fast-Write Supported, Enabled
Side Band Addressing Supported, Enabled

Chipset Manufacturer
Company Name VIA Technologies, Inc.
Product Information http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets
Driver Download http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2

Now I need to know why, and subsequently, how to amend the error or malfunction!!!

Rista