I see no increase in speed from adding 1G ram

[Chewy]

yes, your memory benched best with just the 2 512's

I never argued that, that's what I expected, the 2 sticks of 256 are hurting
slightly, now what is their benefit, normal multitasking will never use more
than 7-800 megs. Disregard virtual, as a matter of fact, it should have been
set to 1.5 gigs for a minimum for testing. Physical memory available is what you want to watch.

That chipset is allowing you to run in dual channel with all four and more importantly all four of the cas (spd's) match. After page 8 you'll notice they never test your setup.

[Dr Klovernutz]

well here is what i am looking at:
dvdshrink encodes at 2.2mb/sec no matter what ram i use or what else i run
the only benefit of added ram is i can do other stuff while dvdshrink is running.

so the question is do i leave in the 2 256MB sticks in.

i don't know how to decide this,
with them in i have 1.5G of ram
everything is still in dual mode.

your saying they are hurting me (looking at the previously listed memory speed tests, i would have to agree) BUT
look how close if not the same the numbers between all 3 settings are.
i have a hard time believeing everest is correct, especially when comparing just the 2 512 to the 2 256 #s

this is driving me crazy!!!!!
so i should return the 2 512s i just bought and buy 2 256 instead and leave all four in???

yet kingston uses my setup as a specific example (2 512 and 2 256)

AAAARRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Chewy]

Choosing a shrink scenario to measure performance is extremely difficult
and then isolating the bottleneck equally so. Dual channel is optimal with
2 sticks matched(same run at factory), I guess it's possible for 4 exactly
matching sticks to have that same advantage. People say it's the lowest
common denominator, I believe even then there's a performance hit
on top of that. It's not the size difference that matters, but the chipsets,
there's a lot more cas settings than everest shows.

[Dr Klovernutz]

I just got off the phone with crucial.com

while on th ephone with them discussing my problem (since they are the ones who told me this would work..) we ran everest.
look what u see under chipset:
Field Value
North Bridge Properties
North Bridge Intel Springdale i865PE
Revision / Stepping 02 / A2
Package Type 932 Pin FC-BGA
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 Dual Channel (128-bit)
PAT Disabled

Memory Timings
CAS Latency (CL) 3T
RAS To CAS Delay (tRCD) 3T
RAS Precharge (tRP) 3T
RAS Active Time (tRAS) 8T

Error Correction
ECC Not Supported
ChipKill ECC Not Supported
RAID Not Supported
ECC Scrubbing Not Supported

Memory Slots
DRAM Slot #1 512 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)

AGP Controller
AGP Version 3.00
AGP Status Enabled
AGP Device nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
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 Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htm
Driver Download http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/index.htm


Notice under memory slots
i currently have only 2 256 RAM in there but its showing it as 1 512 (dual right?)

well i tried all 3 module configurations
and whenever i had 2 512s in (with or without the 2 256) under memory slots it always listed the 512s seperately but whenever i had the 256s in it always listed them as 1 memory slot as 512.

So crucial.com said that this may be problem with these specific sticks. Also, the tech guy i was speaking to just called me back and asked if my existing sticks (256) had only black chips on one side. I said no but in total my current sticks (256) have only 8 black chips on each (4 each side).
This he said may be the problem. the mobo i have may only accept singlesided ram for dual support.

so long story short they are sending me 2 new stick of RAM (512) BUT with black chips on one side only, to try all of this again....

also the tech guy i had at crucial checked with many other tech peopleand all concluded that only the pairs had to match.

[Chewy]

I wouldn't even try that ram in my motherboard, the integrated memory controller is so fast on the amd64/939, my latency is 45.1 nanosec
I am sure your setup is much more tolerant and compatible.

that's why I call mine the beast

[Dr Klovernutz]

I wouldn't even try that ram in my motherboard, the integrated memory controller is so fast on the amd64/939, my latency is 45.1 nanosec
I am sure your setup is much more tolerant and compatible.

that's why I call mine the beast

are you saying crucial.com RAM is no good?

i am unclear on what you are saying here

-DR K

[Chewy]

crucial makes very good ram, I tried to buy the ballistic sets, they are better
than mine but sell out quick and quite pricey

your motherboard/chipset/cpu run on regular gas
mine likes high test, very picky

[Dr Klovernutz]

do you think my issue is single sided vs double sided??

[Chewy]

possibly, but if those 256 meg sticks could find another home,
it would be a moot issue, like I said 1 gig is enough, more than enough
for anything but the fastest computers

[anonymez]

if it were me, i'd keep the ram in as i do lots of gaming/multitasking. also because my pc runs scheduled dvb captures 24/7, which would really decrease performance without enough ram...

so its up to you, klovernutz, which is more important...

[Dr Klovernutz]

apparently the 512mb sticks i currently have are not reading properly (refer to the everest chipset memory slot information i posted above)

so i'll try to single sided sticks when they arrive, re-run the tests and see from there i guess.

Ideally i want to keep all of my RAM. and hopefully this will solve the problem
i thinks since i currently have single sided sticks in there already. (at least that is what the tech guy from crucial.com said i was running when i told him there was only 4 black chips on each side of each stick)

-dr k

[Dr Klovernutz]

Hi,
Im back
I just recieved the 2 new single sided 512mb modules. This is totally blowing my mind. Any ne who can help please reveiw the following info and let me know what you think is going on here.To catch all up to speed on what is going on here here is a summary.
I own a:

Dell 4600
mobo is a intel i865PE springdale (but its got that good o'le DELL stink to it)
P4 2.6
dual channel PC3200 512mb RAM (2 256 modules> elpida single sided (4 chips on each side))


The original plan was to increase my RAM so that I could encode DVDs faster with DVDShrink (I have since discovered that DVDShrink's encoding speed seems to be comtroled by the CPUnot the RAM ; I found this out by running DVDShrink with all of the different RAM configurations and found that no matter what 2.2MB/s was the average, while the ability to run other programs while encoding was affected.)

ANYHOW, what kind of RAM must i buy, can i add 1 stick or must i add in pairs etc.
CONCLUSION, after getting conflicting (and wrong) info from DELL (hate them, errrrr) I searched the 'net and happened upon

kingston white papers :

http://www.kingston.com/newtech/MKF_520DDRwhitepaper.pdf

http://www.kingston.com/newtech/MKF_520DDRwhitepaper.pdf

IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT THE MODULES MUST MATCH IN CL, MHZ, SPEED, ETC,
this seemed to clear up all of my questions. Basically as long as i install RAM in matched pairs, I'll maintain my dual channel. Great, I have 1 matched pair, so i just wanna buy another matched pair. Now some said the new pair must match the existing pair, other said it didn't matter (REGRADING TO SIZE, ie: 256MB, 512MB, or 1024MB) I went to Crucial.com went through all their steps to pick out RAM, did an on-line chat regarding adding a matched pair of 2 512MB to my existing 2 256MB, the also confirmed that It would work fine.

I purchased a 1GIG kit for my computer from crucial. They sent 2 double sided 512MB sticks. I added them saw very little performance increase over what i already had. This prompted my to begin performing different tests with different configurations and The results I got are weird. So after posting here i called Crucial, the tech guy learned that my existing modules were single sided and said that perhaps the reason under Everest chipset> memory modules> where its lists the 2 double sided 512 seperatly was that this particular mobo only likes single sided modules. So they sent me a return
label and sent me 2 single sided 512mb. Now these show up under Everest chipset> memory modules> as 1 memory slot 1024MB, but they suffer on performance.

Can anyone help explain what is happeneing here.
why do my 2 256mb perform as good as the 2 512 (if not better in some configs)
the best increase is when i have only the 2 512mb double sided in, and all i get is a 30% increase in the write speed for $100.... and I cannot use my 2 256, why not just buy 2 256 is i only get to take advantage of 1gig of RAM?

~Should i buy elpida (are they that good??)

~Must i buy from DELL (i am aware that everything DELL has hs a weird compatibility issue with normal stuff, ie> i must upgrade my nvidia graphics card through dell, not nvidia, also my XP is a DELL XP, etc..)

PLEASE HELP if you can I have about 2 weeks to return everything to crucial, or pick-out a different type/ size of RAM.
I am wondering if I would be better off returning all of the 512s and just buy 2 256 (single or double)



BELOW is as many memory benchmark tests I could think of (of all different configurations)
listed are the modules
CPU-Z analysis of whether I'm in dual or single
EVEREST memory benchmark test results
EVEREST>MOTHERBOARD>CHIPSET>MEMORY MODULES>
(i listed this because for some reason the 512 double sided always list seperatly while the single sided when in dual slots read combined???)
----------------------------------------
MODS: 2 256 single sided

cpu-Z
memory:dual

everest
read: 3732 mb/s
write: 1200 mb/s
latency: 111 ns

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 512mb
------------------------------------------

MODS: 2 512 single sided

cpu-Z
memory: dual

everest
read: 3738 mb/s
write: 1117 mb/s
latency: 111 ns

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 1024mb
-----------------------------------------

MODS: 2 512 double sided

cpu-Z
memory: dual

everest
read: 3815 mb/s
write: 1666 mb/s
latency: 111 ns

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 512mb
slot #2 512mb
-------------------------------------------

MODS: 1 256 single sided

cpu-Z
memory: single

everest
read: 2839 mb/s
write: 1017 mb/s
latency: 120

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 256mb
--------------------------------------------

MODS: 1 512 single sided

cpu-Z
memory: single

everest
read: 2843
write: 972
latency: 120

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 512mb
--------------------------------------------

MODS: 1 512 double sided

cpu-Z
memory: single

everest
read: 2850
write: 1118
latency: 120

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 512mb
---------------------------------------------

MODS: 2 512 double sided
2 256 single sided

cpu-Z
memory: dual

everest
read: 3708 mb/s
write: 1310 mb/s
latency: 112

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 512mb
slot #2 512mb
slot #3 512mb
---------------------------------------------

MODS: 2 512 single sided
2 256 single sided

cpu-Z
memory: dual

everest
read: 3732 mb/s
write: 1130 mb/s
latency: 111

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 1024mb
slot #2 512mb
-----------------------------------------------

MODS: 2 512 single sided
2 512 double sided

cpu-Z
memory: dual

everest
read: 3729 mb/s
write: 1118 mb/s
latency: 112

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 1024mb
slot #2 512mb
slot #3 512mb
----------------------------------------------

MODS: 2 256 single sided
1 512 single sided

cpu-Z
memory: single

everest
read: 2789 mb/s
write: 923 mb/s
latency: 120

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 256mb
slot #2 512mb
slot #3 256mb
-----------------------------------------------

[Chewy]

MODS: 2 512 double sided

cpu-Z
memory: dual

everest
read: 3815 mb/s
write: 1666 mb/s
latency: 111 ns

chipset:
memory modules: slot #1 512mb
slot #2 512mb

bottom line: best bench, most of the heaviest duty video geeks around here



use a gig
and they game