- Joined
- Nov 6, 2001
Last week I decided I would like to find out exactly which ram settings in my BIOS give added performance and how much they add. So, I did some testing with Sisoft Sandra's Memory Bandwidth Benchmark. I did the testing with my Soltek SL-75Drv2 and Crucial PC2100. I did all the bandwidth tests multiple times and took averages to insure that I was getting accurate results. The results are shown as Int/Float. Default settings are Cas Latency: 2.5, Interleave: Disbled, Dram Burst Length: 4, Dram Queue Depth: Level 2, Dram Command Rate: 2T, System Performance: Normal, DD Skew: 00, FSB 133.
1836/1713(3 Tests) - Defaults
1866/1728(3 Tests) - Cas 2
1950/1810(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave
1941/1811(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Burst Length 8
1945/1807(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Queue Depth Level 4
1968/1835(6 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t
1963/1861(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest
1959/1855(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest + DDSkew 08
1964/1852(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest + DDSkew 0c
1969/1880(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest + FSB 134
2033/1920(3 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest + FSB 138
In conclusion, by tweaking the memory settings I was able to get a %6.9/%8.6 gain in memory bandwidth. On top of that, raising the FSB by 5 only gave me %3.5/%3.1 gains. This is all just going to show that memory settings are very important, and now you will know which settings help and to what degree. Obviously my testing has some flaws, and there are some differences between motherboards and such, but these results should give you some idea of what to expect.
PS. To understand what all these settings do go here.
PPS. The "System Performance: Fastest" is also referred to as "Turbo" in some BIOS's.
1836/1713(3 Tests) - Defaults
1866/1728(3 Tests) - Cas 2
1950/1810(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave
1941/1811(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Burst Length 8
1945/1807(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Queue Depth Level 4
1968/1835(6 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t
1963/1861(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest
1959/1855(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest + DDSkew 08
1964/1852(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest + DDSkew 0c
1969/1880(5 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest + FSB 134
2033/1920(3 Tests) - Cas 2 + 4-Bank Interleave + Dram Command Rate 1t + System Performance Fastest + FSB 138
In conclusion, by tweaking the memory settings I was able to get a %6.9/%8.6 gain in memory bandwidth. On top of that, raising the FSB by 5 only gave me %3.5/%3.1 gains. This is all just going to show that memory settings are very important, and now you will know which settings help and to what degree. Obviously my testing has some flaws, and there are some differences between motherboards and such, but these results should give you some idea of what to expect.
PS. To understand what all these settings do go here.
PPS. The "System Performance: Fastest" is also referred to as "Turbo" in some BIOS's.
Last edited:
)
