The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Vostro 1400 PCMarks: Dual Channel vs. Single Channel

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by billcsho, Aug 25, 2007.

  1. billcsho

    billcsho Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    39
    Messages:
    732
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I saw a few times people talking about memory upgrade in Vostro 1400. Many people are getting 1GB PC5300 in 2x512GB configuration. If you get an additional 1x1GB, you will only gain 512MB and lost dual channel. But how much better is the performance in dual channel? I compared the PCMark05 in the same Vostro 1400 using 2x512GB and 1x1G PC5300.

    2x512MB: 3770
    1x1GB: 3642

    So the difference is around 4%.
     
    billcsho, Aug 25, 2007
    #1
  2. Iceman0124

    Iceman0124 More news from nowhere

    Reputations:
    1,133
    Messages:
    3,548
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Its not near as big a deal as some people make it out to be. Theoretically the difference is huge, in real life, not so much.
     
    Iceman0124, Aug 25, 2007
    #2
  3. Waveblade

    Waveblade Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    72
    Messages:
    1,037
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I think the test would better found in 2x1GB versus 1x1GB + 1x2GB
     
    Waveblade, Aug 25, 2007
    #3
  4. Iceman0124

    Iceman0124 More news from nowhere

    Reputations:
    1,133
    Messages:
    3,548
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Then you wouldnt be testing single VS dual channel mode, with modern chipsets, when both slots are filled, dual channel is enabled, when both are filled with the same type, you have synchronous dual channel, when they differ, you have asynchronous dual channel, the latter taking a small real world performance hit over the former.
     
    Iceman0124, Aug 25, 2007
    #4
  5. Waveblade

    Waveblade Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    72
    Messages:
    1,037
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Yes, but I'm just wondering by how much :D
     
    Waveblade, Aug 25, 2007
    #5
  6. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

    Reputations:
    2,071
    Messages:
    5,234
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    Since you must have 2x512mb sticks and 1x1gb stick, why not run the test with 1.5 gb (1x1gb + 1x512mb). I bet it'll do best with that.
     
    swarmer, Aug 25, 2007
    #6
  7. billcsho

    billcsho Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    39
    Messages:
    732
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yes, I can also test the same 2x512MB modules with dual channel off in BIOS. Then it would be testing the same SODIMMs in 2 the 2 modes. Anyway, the advantage of dual channel is not really significant in real life.
     
    billcsho, Aug 25, 2007
    #7