Memory Benchmarking Low...

[Nighthawk69]

Hey all-

I got SiSoft Sandra and was running all the benchmarks and seeing that my system really kicked butt on the comparion systems.. except whem I run the memory benchmark it shows it as being VERY low.. maybe someone can give me some tips, HERE is a screenshot of the benchmark window.

RAM:
1 32MB PC100 Micron Stick
1 32MB PC100 NEC Stick
1 64MB PC100 Micron Stick

I have an MSI K7T Pro mobo... maybe I need to do some tweaking? If so, please tell me what to tweak

Thanks everyone! All comments appreciated!

 

[PlunX]

I have an MSI K7T Pro2 board along with 192MB of PC100 RAM that works fine at cas2, and I get low memory scores in SiSoft Sandra as well.. I don't notice anything in games or applications, so.. Could this just be a bug in SiSoft Sandra?

 

[Technonut]

You should be getting much better memory benchmarks if you are running your RAM at Host CLK + PCI CLK (133MHz) If your PC100 cannot run at 133MHz, you should purchase some PC133 while the cost is low. The best overall system performance you can have, is running with a combination multiplier/FSB overlock, which will increase your RAM speed. Here is my Sandra memory benchmark with my KT7 with the RAM at 144MHz. Make sure that you have it set at 4 way interleave in the BIOS, along with the fastest timing it can handle. Mine is at CAS2 Turbo.

EDIT: Just to compare, I reduced my settings to Host CLK, (RAM at 109MHz) CAS3 Turbo, with 2 way Interleave set. Here is that benchmark. As you can see, quite a performance drop, and very noticable to me as I am running it now, compared to before. The memory speed in these systems is the major bottleneck to overcome. The faster that you can run the RAM the better. The DDR systems will take care of much of that bottleneck.

 

[Nighthawk69]

OK... I'm running at Host Clock +33Mhz with all banks set on Fast (Turbo wouldn't boot). Everything is good, *SO FAR*.. cross your fingers

I noticed all my RAM was running in CAS3 so I set it to CAS2 but it wouldn't boot... I guess that is why my benchmarks are still fairly low on the RAM. I think it might be the older NEC 32MB PC100 holding me back as I bought that when PC100 FIRST came out. I will be replacing that stick with a 256MB PC100 Micron stick soon so we'll see if that fixes it.

I was unable to find that 4-way interleave setting in my BIOS... it is v1.6 which is teh second newest I believe but I didn't see it.. maybe it's called something else?

Thanks for your help! Gotta go run some tests and see if the current settings are working alright then I'll be back to get the latest info from you guys.. thanks again!

 

[bonkers325]

via bah what do u expect

cheers,
bonkers325

 

[Zombie13]

Make sure that you have it set at 4 way interleave in the BIOS, along with the fastest timing it can handle. Mine is at CAS2 Turbo.

The MSI boards won't let you set the RAM to 4-way interleave unfortunately. This is the problem with the MSI K7T Pro, Pro2, Pro2A motherboards, and that is why the Abit KT7 will wipe the floor with the MSI K7T in Sandra memory tests - all other things being equal. I am hoping and praying that MSI comes out with a BIOS update that lets the user set the RAM to 4-way interleave. Of course, will it really affect gaming performance anyway? My Sandra 2001 scores are about 415/500 with RAM set at 133MHz, CAS 2 with a FSB of 103 MHz.

Hey PlunX - what do your Sandra scores look like?

 

[Nighthawk69]

OK -- Thanks... I'm also hoping they will release a BIOS update now also...

I hope that by replacing that old PC100 NEC stick of 32MB with a matching Micron 256MB PC100 stick I will be able to go 133Mhz (as I have now), CAS2 (can only get CAS3 now), and Turbo (can only get Fast now).

Thanks again!