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    Vista Windows Experience Index drop with increase of RAM to 4GB's...

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by hypertrophy, Jul 13, 2007.

  1. hypertrophy

    hypertrophy Notebook Evangelist

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    I have a T61 with integrated graphics, X3100. I just got my second Patriot 2GB PC2-5300 SODIMM ram stick and installed it. There's a total of ~4GB's installed as shown by the BIOS. Before installing the new stick of ram, i had 2.5GB's of ram installed on my system (2gb x 1 dimm and 512mb x 1 dimm).

    After installation of the new stick, the Windows Experience Index for Memory dropped by .2 pts, from 4.8 to 4.6. At the same time, the Graphics index increased .2 pts, from 3.2 to 3.4, and the Gaming Graphics index increased .1 pt, from 3.4 to 3.5.

    Is it normal to have a drop in the Memory Index when upgrading to 4GB's of ram? I'm using a Vista Premium 32-bit OS at the moment.
     
    hypertrophy, Jul 13, 2007
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  2. Overclocker

    Overclocker Notebook Evangelist

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    32-bit can't address 4gb of RAM. To do so, you'll need 64-bit Vista/XP.
     
    Overclocker, Jul 13, 2007
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  3. CodeMonkeyX

    CodeMonkeyX Notebook Deity

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    Also maybe the stick is not performing quite as fast as the smaller stick was. Just because it's bigger do not mean it runs faster.
     
    CodeMonkeyX, Jul 13, 2007
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  4. CeeNote

    CeeNote Notebook Virtuoso

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    32bit can address 3.2GB so benchmark scores should still go up if you have an extra 700mb of ram.

    Apparently both are PC2-5300, so they should perform equally.

    Anyways, I wouldn't worry too much about that as long as the system doesn't run slower.
     
    CeeNote, Jul 13, 2007
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  5. hypertrophy

    hypertrophy Notebook Evangelist

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    Actually, i already knew that point when i decided to upgrade to 4GB's on my current system. 1GB is left as permanent device address space, but 3GB's should still be accessible to the user.

    I did increase the usable ram by at least 500mb's, from ~2.5 to ~3GB's. That is why the drop in the index is confusing me.

    Since both DIMMs have equal density sticks running a total of 4GB's, the system should be in symmetrical dual channel mode instead of the previous Flex mode, which is why it's even more confusing now seeing a drop.
     
    hypertrophy, Jul 13, 2007
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  6. CodeMonkeyX

    CodeMonkeyX Notebook Deity

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    But what about timings? The timing of the memory could also affect the speed even if they have the same clock speed.

    Also, I would not go nuts over the Vista performance score, it seems like a pretty arbitrary number. Your score is "4" great?!
     
    CodeMonkeyX, Jul 13, 2007
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  7. CodeMonkeyX

    CodeMonkeyX Notebook Deity

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    Anandtech: The 3GB Flag

    They explain that reducing the Kernel space to 1GB can cause problems, so maybe Vista is picking up on that if you did it.
     
    CodeMonkeyX, Jul 13, 2007
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  8. hypertrophy

    hypertrophy Notebook Evangelist

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    The factory 512mb module that i removed is made by Hynix (512mb 2Rx16 PC2-5300S-555-12) (HYMP564S64BP6-Y5 AB).

    The 2gb modules i installed are Patriot PSD22G6672S (2GB PC2-5300 CAS Latency of 5).
     
    hypertrophy, Jul 13, 2007
    #8