Sandra says my memory running slowly

Yammer

Yammer

Yammer

Associate
Joined
16 Jan 2009
Posts
96
Location
Dorset
Hi folks

I have an OCUK Titan build based on an ASUS P5Q Deluxe board (P45/ICH10R) with a Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz (E7300) and 2x2GB Corsair 8500 RAM. It's worked fine, but I always wondered if it was set up to run as well as can be expected. Not being surrounded by computers these days, it's difficult for me to tell.

I downloaded the latest Sisoft Sandra, and ran the performance test. The results were fairly typical for the hardware, apart from the "memory bandwidth" test which was 5.4, compared with a typical result of 6.6 for the same RAM/FSB.

I bought the RAM as "TWIN2X4096-8500C5C" - a matched pair of 2GB sticks. On each stick is a label which says XMS2 and CM2X2048-8500C5C 1066MHz 5-6-6-18 2.10V v4.1.

I run the memory using an FSB of 1066, the above timings (the rest set to Auto), and VDRAM of 2.10. I have also tried 15 and 16 in place of 18, but it makes very little difference. Every time I visit the Corsair website they seem to change the recommended timings. I'd be happy with typical performance. I haven't attempted to overclock the system, as I wouldn't know where to start.

Should I be disappointed with the Sandra benchmark? Are there any other BIOS settings I should change to get a better "memory bandwidth" score?
 
Run CPU-Z and click on the memory tab.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

If it says 533MHz then your memory is running at the correct speed. It's doubled to 1066MHz as it's Double Data Rate.

You can check the memory timings are correct.

You can see if it's running at a command rate of 1T or 2T. If it's at 2T you can try 1T and see if it's stable.

If all the above are correct then your memory is running as it should be.

The only way to get more bandwidth would be to try overclocking it.
 
Thanks for your reply.

This is what CPU-Z says:
cpuz1.jpg
cpuz2.jpg


How do I change the command rate?
 
I can't find anything in the BIOS called "command rate". Is it called anything else?

Is tRAS the 4th number? if so, it's been set at 15 & 16 before. I've just set everything in the BIOS back to defaults, and followed the RAM sticker timings.

Are there no other general settings worth changing? There are loads of settings, but with very little in the way of helpful description, eg. Ai Clock Twister, Ai Transaction Booster,
 
I've had a look at the motherboard manual and can't see an option to alter the Command Rate. It looks like you're stuck with 2.

tRAS is the fourth number - DRAM RAS#Activate to precharge time.

All the other settings are just tinkering around the edges. You may find they do something but it will be marginal.

The biggest boost to memory bandwidth will be lower timings or faster speed.

You can try lowering the timings but this may cause instability.

You can try increasing the FSB frequency to make the RAM faster but this will also overclock the processor and may cause instability.

Other than the above you've basically got what you've got.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom