Samsung R40, ATI 200m and dual channel DDR2

I have Samsung R40/K007 (Intel T5500 and ATI Radeon Xpress 200m chispet). Does it support Dual channel memory mode? I inserted same memory modules (2õ512Mb NCP, 2x256Mb Nanya, 2x512 Kingston) and dual channel mode has did not joined (memory bus bandwith still 64 bit).
Does this chipset support it?

 

I thought that the 200M chipset would have nominal dual channel capability. However, this doesn't seem to make, at present, any significant impact on the performance of notebook RAM.

1. What does CPU-Z report as the memory mode?

2. The real test is what does SiSoftware Sandra's memory bandwidth test report? Results for the Samsung Q35, X60 plus and R20 are all in the range 2800MB/s to 3300MB/s. Sandra Lite is free to download and includes this benchmark.

John

 

Thanks for answer.
CPU-Z reports Single mode too.
Sandra's test shows about 3100 Mb/s.
I think that dual channel mode is necessary for integrated video. I work in Graphisoft Archicad, and i have 1-2 fps in hard 3-d visualization scenes. At the same time my desktop (Prescott P4/i865/1Gb dual channel DDR2/int. video) does it with 15-20 fps.

 

Thanks for answer.
CPU-Z reports that memory is in Single channel mode too.
Sandra's test (Sandra ver. 2007.2.11.17) shows about 3100 Mb/s.
I think that Dual channel mode is necessary for integrated video. I work in Graphisoft Archicad 10, and I see 1-2 fps in hard 3-d visualization scenes. At the same time my desktop (Prescott P4 3GHz/i865/1Gb dual channel DDR2/int.video) gives about 15 fps in these scenes.

 

3100MB/s is much the same speed as I am measuring with the Intel 945 chipset and RAM which CPU-Z says is dual channel.

It is quite possible that the i965 chipset on your desktop does a much better job or running dual channel.

Have you looked in your R40 BIOS for options for sharing the video RAM? It would be useful to try different options to see if they affect the performance.

I would also suggest that you run 3DMark05. We can then compare your results with the Intel 845 and the new ATI 1250M. I would expect there are other results for the 200M either in the graphics forum or notebook reviews.

John

 

3dMark 2005, ver.1.10. Resolution 1024x768
Just 592 points

 

Just 592! Thats over 30% faster than the Intel GPU in my Q35 (score 447) and I suspect that result it is par for the course for the 200M without its own VRAM (I believe there are two versions of this, at least at the desktop level, with and without some VRAM of its own). The 200M isn't listed in the graphics benchmark thread so I can't make other comparisons.

The bottom line is that your 3D visualisations need 3D-capable GPU capability. Perhaps the X1700 in my X60 plus (3DMark05 score =4150) would meet your needs. The new ATI 1250M graphics in the Samsung R20 (3DMark05 score = 1292) is more than twice as fast as the 200M, but still too slow for what you want.

I am surprised that you are getting such a performance difference between your desktop and notebook integrated graphics, but it is quite likely that the desktop IGP is more powerful (and, as you noted at the start, has the benefit of RAM running in dual channel).

Out of curiousity, can you test the Sandra memory bandwidth and 3DMark05 on your desktop? They will provide interesting comparisons, but won't fix your current problem.

John

PS: And make sure that you are using the most recent chipset driver from ATI. Samsung can be a little slow in updating their download site.

 

How much graphics RAM did 3DMark05 report? (Use system > details).

Did you try changing the allocation of graphics RAM in the BIOS?

John

 

128 Mb Shared -> 592 points
256 Mb Shared -> 608 points.

My desktop integrated videocard (Intel 82865G) doesn't support DirectX 9.0, and 3dMark 2005 didn't run. Sandra's test reports 4170 Mb/s.

 

Thanks for checking the effect of RAM allocation. That is clearly not the solution to your problem.

Next thought: Is Archicad an Open GL application? Is there an option to use Direct X? You have pointed out that your desktop IGP doesn't support Direct X 9.0 but Archicad runs relatively well with that IGP.

I've got a feeling that ATI is not so strong for Open GL. However, this may have improved for the recent drivers. Does the Catalyst Control Center work with the 200M? Did you try the latest version? The link is here.

John

 

@TechnicMe : What are your memory sticks ?
Can you save the CPU-Z output and upload it ?
I have a sinister feeling about the memory sticks not matching.