1gb of RAM just arrived... Need a good benchmark for before & after

[aphex]

Im upgrading from 256x2 PC2100 to 512x2 PC3200 on my althon 64/asus k8v se

Whats a good program to benchmark the difference?

 

[n7]

UT2k4...the smoother play is enough of a benchmark for me.

 

[Dug]

Same with Far Cry. Huge difference.

 

[dullard]

Its too late. If you are a real Anandtech member, you'd want to put that memory in immediately. You can't fight it. You need it in NOW...

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: dullard
Its too late. If you are a real Anandtech member, you'd want to put that memory in immediately. You can't fight it. You need it in NOW...

its staring at me.

 

[FullRoast]

Be sure to post your results! That's one of the upgrades I've considered but haven't gotten to yet.

 

[aphex]

Before:

Sandra Memory Bandwidth: 1753mb/s
Passmark: 402 overall

 

[ROcHE]

Play Battlefield Vietnam or Farcry.

 

[aphex]

After:

Sandra Memory Bandwidth: 2722mb/s
Passmark: 405 overall

Hmmmm, dosent seem like its really that much faster, it still boots in the exact same amount of time 1:15 and programs like firefox still take a few seconds to load.

Anyway to check to see if they are runnin at full speed?

 

[aphex]

BTW, im installing FarCry again right now. I ran it when i first got the rig and it was damn slow.... We'll see how she runs now

 

[n7]

You will not notice anything becoming faster in Windows, aside from maybe some video work being faster, but in games, you will see the big difference.

I find i usually use under 300 MB for my normal surfing the web, play mp3s, etc.

Games are the only thing i need over 512 for.

 

[FullRoast]

n7 - Big difference how? I assume by not paging to disk, smoother operation, but how would you quantify it?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: FullRoast
n7 - Big difference how? I assume by not paging to disk, smoother operation, but how would you quantify it?

All of the above, plus no nasty framerate drops, ability to increase sound/video detail due to not paging to disk, etc ...

- M4H

 

[n7]

I'm not sure how to describe it really well...but everything loads faster, & gameplay never stutters like it does with only 512 MB.
Also, i can actually leave UT running in the background while i surf the net; with 512, not a chance.

 

[aphex]

Ok, just got back from playing FarCry a little and WOW, there is definately a noticable difference...

Where the game used to studder and freeze, its now as smooth as silk. VERY nice...

Im installing UT2k3 (which i was using as early as tuesday with 512) to see the difference...

 

[Corey0808]

I wish I could afford a stick of 512 PC3500 @ 2.5-3-3 or 2-3-3 but its all too expensive for me

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: aphex
After:

Sandra Memory Bandwidth: 2722mb/s
Passmark: 405 overall

Hmmmm, dosent seem like its really that much faster, it still boots in the exact same amount of time 1:15 and programs like firefox still take a few seconds to load.

Anyway to check to see if they are runnin at full speed?

I don't think the Sandra benchie is appropriate for your needs (testing for performance increase due to increase in amount of ram).

I had the same question about 2 weeks ago, and put in a 512MB stick to go with my 2 X 256 DC ram. Because the 512MB stick didn't have as good a timings as my corsair 3200LL, my score actually went down. 512MB of fast ram scored better than 1gig of cas 2.5 ram? Clearly, the amount of ram is irrelevent in the Sandra Benchie.

I think the improved score you postsed above was due soley to going to pc3200 from pc 2100. Not from increasing the amount of ram.