Did I screw myself?

[Greg86]

I built a mid-entry system back in Feb. and at the time I decided to intall Vista 32-Bit Premium. However, i'm sorta kicking myself for doing that because I put in 4GB's of PC2-6400. Now, of course, I do realize that the 32-bit version of Vista wont use my full 4GB (it recognizes 3.18GB which I'm guessing its actually using, right?), but the Windows Experience Index is only giving me a score of 4.8 for my RAM. Any idea why? I thought it would have been for sure 5.9 since I'm maxing out the top amount. Also, I'm not doing any gaming right now cause I'm using the on-board GeForce 7150 until I upgrade to a new video card (which is gonna be soon). Also, the RAM is single channel. So, why do you guys think my RAM score is that low? and is this gonna have any significant effect on gaming? and since I'm having this RAM issue, would it be a good idea to get a video card with 1GB of RAM instead of 512MB? Would it be worth it to upgrade to the 64-bit version? Finally, I'm running the Intel Q6600 processor, is that a 64-bit cpu, and is it compatible with the 64-bit version of Vista? Thanks

 

[Andrius]

Your score is low because you are running your memory in single channel. Why would you do that anyway? Try to run it in dual channel mode(if you can). If not you are effectivly halving memory bandwidth so it's normal that you have a lower score.

It might also be your onboard graphics reducing memory performance for the rest of the system. The other cause could be a crappy chipset (you went cheap).

The size of the frame buffer needed is largely dependant on the raw "horsepower" of the GPU. With something like an 8600GT even 512MB is pointless, and with something like a 9800GTX 512MB is great but lacks some bandwidth in higher resolutions. The general idea is to avoid slower DDR2 memory on a graphics card and cheap marketing tricks with boosting frame buffer size for no benefit on performance (sometimes even causing lower performance).

Q6600 is a 64bit CPU and yes it is compatible with Vista 64-bit.

 

[Grimble Crumble]

The more VRAM you get a card with, less of your system RAM will be picked up.

 

[rockyjohn]

Why are you using single channel now? I agree with andrius you should be trying to use dual channel - making this happen should be the first priority.

After that, I think you next priority should be getting a decent graphics card.

Only after that should you even worry about 32 or 64 bit system - and odds are that unless you are using some heavy graphics applications you will never use all the 3.2 GB of memory available - if you have it operating in dual channel mode.

 

[Greg86]

Unfortunately, I'm running a evga 630i MOBO which docent support dual-channel. However, I remember reading an article on Toms hardware which compared gaming performance on single channel and dual channel configurations and running dual channel didn't have that much of a significant performance increase. But please, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Andrius]

Most of the benchmarks for single vs. dual channel memory are 2-3 years old. Even then in the later tests recent games showed a lot of improvement with dual channel memory.

With current games and multi core processors that gap will likely be even larger. I guess the answer to your thread title question is yes. I would advise you to buy a new motherboard when getting a new graphics card. You should never go cheap on a motherboard IMO.

 

[Mondoman]

greg, it doesn't, but you weren't talking about real-world performance, you were talking about the Windows Experience index.

 

[Mondoman]

Regarding single vs dual-channel memory, the key thing is to have enough memory bus bandwidth to max out the FSB bandwidth. For single-channel memory, a single module's datarate needs to match the FSB datarate (e.g. 1333MHz FSB would need DDR2-1333 memory bus speed). However, with dual-channel memory, a single module's datarate only needs to match 1/2 the FSB datarate (e.g. 1333MHz FSB would need DDR2-667 memory bus speed). Since any decent MB these days runs the RAM in dual channel mode, and DDR2-800 RAM will support up to a 1600MHz FSB in dual-channel mode, it's not normally an issue.

 

[Greg86]

Well thanks for the input guys. I really dont want to go through the time and money to upgrade my MOBO but I'm for sure gonna upgrade my vid card. The only question remains, should I still invest in a high-end video card (probably the new GeForce line which is gonna be coming out soon) or should I just buy a mid-range card (probably a 8800GT) because my RAM is gonna really limit or even bottleneck my performance? Any suggestions?

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

a windows vista key is good for both 32bit and 64 bit versions. So I would see if you can get you hands on a 64 bit version and install it.

You motherboard should support dual channel. if it's not running in dual channel it might be because your onboard card is preventing it from doing so. Try buying a cheap gpu locally to see if that will allow you to run in dual channel. you can always return it.

 

[yadge]

Yeah, the windows score thing doesn't care how much ram you have, it cares how fast it is. It measures "Memory operations per second."

 

[shadowthor]

I agree with above posts that, the ram should be in dual channel. You might want to overclock the cpu, I had 5.4 originally with the Q6600 at stock, and when I overclocked it to 3.0, it increased the score to 5.9 probably due to more bandwidth.

 

[houstonserenity]

Check your timing on your memory as well it mite be way loose.
On my P35 MoBo it under volted my memory by .3 volts.

 

[mrmez]

U know snakes have both male and female reproductive organs?
Thats why when you call someone a snake, you are saying they can LITERALLY go screw them self.

 

[thebluedawg]

^^wtf mrmez....very random--but interesting if true, ill have to look that up..lolz