Vista Memory issues

[Thecrowing87]

I recently got windows vista, it ran fine just needed more ram to really game while using it. Thus, I upgraded and got another stick of 1 gb memory, and for some reason windows lowered my memory score but it caches the memory fine and my computer hasn't crashed yet. I hope vista does not require a reformate just to accept memory. If you can help me with this issue, please respond. Thanks in advance.

Edit: my ram performance went from a 4.1 to a 2.2 which really confuses me, I might have to RMA this ram but thats my last resort.

 

[Genx87]

That is quite a drop. Did you putting that memory into your MB cause the MB to run the memory at lower settings?

This ASUS Nforce4 board I have runs 2GB of ram at DDR400 but drops it to DDR333 when I put 4GBs in.

I'd say if your machine seems to work fine, you are probably ok. I wouldnt put a lot of faith in Microsofts built in performance meter.

 

[Thecrowing87]

Judging from CPUZ my ram is still at DDR400, video games seem to run a bit slower, I think vista is having problems with the change over. I don't know though cause the computer is completely stable and cpuz reads the right memory speeds. I really dont know where to go with this aside from a shot at re formating.

Edit: testing out a few more games, WoW runs the same, insurgency loads alot faster, not to sure on the fps yet, ill report back in a bit.

yea something dif seems to be wrong my sandra bandwidth score is rather low. I'am thinking of rma'ing the stick

Edit: Yea, decided i am gonna RMA the stick and get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227210
instead.

hopefully vista wont freak when i put that in.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Thecrowing87
Judging from CPUZ my ram is still at DDR400, video games seem to run a bit slower, I think vista is having problems with the change over. I don't know though cause the computer is completely stable and cpuz reads the right memory speeds. I really dont know where to go with this aside from a shot at re formating.

Edit: testing out a few more games, WoW runs the same, insurgency loads alot faster, not to sure on the fps yet, ill report back in a bit.

yea something dif seems to be wrong my sandra bandwidth score is rather low. I'am thinking of rma'ing the stick

Edit: Yea, decided i am gonna RMA the stick and get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227210
instead.

hopefully vista wont freak when i put that in.

This isnt something reformatting is going to fix. Something happened to your ram timings. Id double and triple check your MB manual on how memory needs to be installed (e.g. which slots if they need to be paired, number of modules, etc).

 

[Thecrowing87]

I went from 2 sticks in dual channel to an odd number. I know this isn't the most efficient setup for ram but it should not cut my performance in half. I think the stick was defective, I already requested RMA refund and am gonna order the ocz which is alot less expensive than corsair, and have 2 sets in dual channel which will hopefully keep my performance up. Windows vista benchmark and Sandra both stated that it was basically defective, I wish i could run a memory test but I do not have a cd burner (I know I am old school). Anyways the ozc seems to be a lot better deal (should have researched). Thanks for the help.

 

[stash]

There's a basic memory tester built into Vista, so you don't need a burner.

http://209.167.114.38/support/...sbs/all/-TSB001369.htm

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Thecrowing87
I went from 2 sticks in dual channel to an odd number. I know this isn't the most efficient setup for ram but it should not cut my performance in half. I think the stick was defective, I already requested RMA refund and am gonna order the ocz which is alot less expensive than corsair, and have 2 sets in dual channel which will hopefully keep my performance up. Windows vista benchmark and Sandra both stated that it was basically defective, I wish i could run a memory test but I do not have a cd burner (I know I am old school). Anyways the ozc seems to be a lot better deal (should have researched). Thanks for the help.

True it won't cut performance in half, but the pc score isn't a linear scale. So it could account for the large drop you saw in the way it reports (which in a way is good as it highlighted you weren't running in dual channel and could speed your system up).

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm surprised that the Vista memory score puts so much emphasis on dual-channel performance, when the real-world performance increase of dual-channel is far, far less than 2x.

 

[Nothinman]

I'm surprised that the Vista memory score puts so much emphasis on dual-channel performance, when the real-world performance increase of dual-channel is far, far less than 2x.

I doubt Vista looks to see if the memory is setup for dual-channel and just tests the actual speed that it gets.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I'm surprised that the Vista memory score puts so much emphasis on dual-channel performance, when the real-world performance increase of dual-channel is far, far less than 2x.

I doubt Vista looks to see if the memory is setup for dual-channel and just tests the actual speed that it gets.

Correct and that isn't what I had said (but that doesnt matter to that responder usually). I simply pointed out the scores aren't nessicarily linear. From everything posted the system score mechanism seems to be working correctly. If it hadnt highlighted this issue the OP may not have noticed it.

 

[Nothinman]

If it hadnt highlighted this issue the OP may not have noticed it.

Yea and isn't it ironic that the OP says that games "seem to run a bit slower" but he can't really tell?

 

[Thecrowing87]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

If it hadnt highlighted this issue the OP may not have noticed it.

Yea and isn't it ironic that the OP says that games "seem to run a bit slower" but he can't really tell?

Yea Games ran a god 10 percent slower i believe, they loaded faster but ran slower, which isn't something i planned on. The vista score is exaggerated but it was correct on showing that my performance was slower than before, which makes the ram i got a big waste of money. I still think it was a defective stick somehow. I do appreciate the vista benchmark though, gives me a semi decent insight on how an "upgrade" affects my performance.

Overall i think after i get 2gb of ram in the system, which vista basically needs. It will be the 7800 gs that is holding my system back some. Games dont run as snappy on vista but normal desktop actions sure as hell do, and since i spend most of my time doing normal things, it would be stupid to go back to xp but rather accommodate for vista. Insurgency is giving me such a feeling of upgrading though, great game .

Anyways thanks for everyones help

 

[Nothinman]

My point was that without the Vista score you might not have even noticed that there was a performance difference. But whether that would have been a good thing is debatable.

 

[Thecrowing87]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
My point was that without the Vista score you might not have even noticed that there was a performance difference. But whether that would have been a good thing is debatable.

yea i see what your saying, eventhough no performance increase would have bothered me.

 

[Nothinman]

Unless you were seeing lots of I/O during the game I wouldn't have expected an in-game performance increase, just loading time.

 

[Thecrowing87]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Unless you were seeing lots of I/O during the game I wouldn't have expected an in-game performance increase, just loading time.

Well since I have switched over to vista, WoW and insurgency take up a good chunk of my RAM, over 90 percent usually. Because of this it has to use the hard drive more often, which has affected my performance. I have compared my performance to performance charts of 7600 GT build running vista (sorta close to 7800 GS), and mine seems to be quite a bit lower. The 7600 GT build has 2 gb of ram and is damn close to xp performance, at least on WoW.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/...wxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==