Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > Memory > Ram upgrade actually weakened my PC

Ram upgrade actually weakened my PC

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Memory - Ram upgrade actually weakened my PC

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audacity10   06-12-2009 at 07:30:46 PM

I've just doubled my memory from 4gb to 8gb ram today. My computer recognizes it, but unusually, my system performance score (Vista 64) dropped from 5.5 to 5.4 for the ram.

The computer runs the same as it did before with no evident improvement. It may be a case of not seeing the wood for the trees, but I've seen nothing on the net to help me with this problem.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

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Bronze Motherboards badge GhislainG   06-13-2009 at 05:43:59 AM
- 0 +

What makes you believe that you have a problem and what should run faster with 8 GB than it did with 4 GB, unless you run an application that really takes advantage of 8 GB?

Reply to GhislainG
cjl   06-13-2009 at 09:01:05 AM
- 0 +

The Vista score dropped because when you run 2 DIMMS per channel, it tends to slow down the RAM slightly. It shouldn't be noticeable though. As for no noticeable increase? That will depend on what you are doing. If you aren't doing anything that would need more than 4GB, then no, the increase wouldn't make much difference. In other cases, it could make a huge difference. It just depends.

------------------------------ Asus P6T deluxe
i7 965 @ 4.2GHz (200*21), 1.384V
12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 CAS 7
 Reply to cjl
Twoboxer   06-13-2009 at 09:37:20 AM
- 0 +

Check your BIOS settings. The mobo may have slowed down memory. Only a "benchmarking" program is likely to notice the difference.

Reply to Twoboxer
tokyotech   06-14-2009 at 08:32:38 AM
- -2 +

you gotta open up a huge photoshop file or open up 50 tabs of high res porno in firefox to utilize the 8 gb of ram.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Gigabyte ga-p35-ds3l mobo, Wolfdale E8400 3.0Ghz, Evga GeForce 8800GT 600Mhz, Seagate 7200.11 500GB HDD, G.Skill 800 2GB DDR2, 500 W Enermax PSU, Windows XP 32 bit, Acer 22' LCD, Logitech X-540 5.1 Speakers, NZXT Apollo case.
 Reply to tokyotech
audacity10   06-14-2009 at 12:53:23 PM
- 0 +

Thanks for the replies - I guess the best way I gauged the difference was when I ran Crysis before and after. I thought doubling my memory would make a significant power improvement but there seems to be none with programs like 3dsmax, photoshop, zbrush etc. As previously stated, it was when the Vista system score dropped that made me concerned.

Reply to audacity10
brendano257   06-14-2009 at 01:10:47 PM
- 0 +

tokyotech wrote :

you gotta open up a huge photoshop file or open up 50 tabs of high res porno in firefox to utilize the 8 gb of ram.



I do neither of those and I really appreciate my 8GB running Vista x64. Because you can leave it on for 2 weeks straight and at the end it's idling at 3.5GB of usage....but it still runs normally without any issues or slowing down.

Reply to brendano257
Gedoe_   06-14-2009 at 01:10:54 PM
- 0 +

or did u upgrade with slower ram?

anyhow, id still take the 8g over 4g any time, even if your little benchie goes down 0.1 point.

Reply to Gedoe_
audacity10   06-14-2009 at 02:28:01 PM
- 0 +

I've got four sticks of the same speed 2gb memory in there.

Reply to audacity10
Scotteq   06-15-2009 at 03:09:32 PM
- 0 +

This thread is based on Vista's "Windows Experience Index" score?

WEI is nice as a guideline, and I like that it looks at the overall performance of entire subsections instead of the raw speed of individual components.... But it's hardly an accurate benchmark. IMHO, the OP shouldn't worry about it.

------------------------------ Which Chip? Well, it depends on which set of thieving b@stardz you choose to support: The ones who use insider trading to enrich themselves while running their company into the ground? Or the ones who illegally pay vendors to not support the first group?
 Reply to Scotteq
Lee-m   06-15-2009 at 05:37:51 PM
- 0 +

Ignore the windows score index, its worthless.

Run 3dmark (or some memory test like the one in Sandra), to monitor the performance difference between 4 and 8. Which I suspect will be none.

------------------------------ X2 6000+ @ 3.3Ghz : 4gig ram ddr2 @ 1104Mhz : 9800GTX : 12057 3dmark 06
www.lee-m.co.uk
 Reply to Lee-m
audacity10   06-15-2009 at 07:45:45 PM
- 0 +

Cheers guys, I suspected Windows Experience Index score wasn't very reliable. I'll check out 3dmark to get a better idea of where I stand. Thanks again.

Reply to audacity10
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