Need help!

[treepop]

...I am getting frustrated....I cannot for the life of me find information about whether my computer is running in dual channel or not....I tried benching them in dims 1x3 2x3 and 1x2.....with no avail....resaults are almost identicle...this is testing using 3dmark2001......I was wondering if there was a program out there that told me if I was running dual channel or not....and where in the program it is located....I am using sandra and can't seem to find where it states I am running in dual channel...also cpuz under the memory section it says channel # single....shouldn't that say dual?.....please help thanks a ton

[jonspd]

Do you have a manaual if so you might want to read it and see if it shows the 2 channels. Also I'am pertty sure it's the same as the 8rda 2+3 is single. 1+2=DC 1+3=DC 1+2+3=DC. The only thing I can think that might help is looking in the manual for the 2 seperate channel's.

[treepop]

.....in my manual it says 1and3 is dual...but I was wondering if there was an app that would tell me if it was running dual channel....like if it is activated in windows and if my performnace was actually being increased...truthfully I don't even care about performance I just want to know that I am running in dual channel and my board is functioning correctly....I am just really frustrated...I can't send this board back....and I really want this board to be working perfectly...thanks a ton for the expedient replies...:D

[jonspd]

How I would check to see if DC was working run 1xram in the slot closiest to the cpu run 3dmark 2001,2003, sandra, pcmark, then after you have taken a note of all your scores put the other stick in dimm slot1 senc the other stick should already be in slot 2 and run them again compare your scroes and see wyhat you get.



as for a proggy thaty tells you i dunno of one.

[treepop]

...wouldn't the scores be higher just because I had more ram?

[jonspd]

Not if it is running single. I lost point's in sandra with 1gig v 512 when I put it in single but gaine with it in DC. You might get alittle better score but probably not as much as you will with it in DC.

[treepop]

do think there is a possibility my dual channel isn't working?....does this happen...?

[treepop]

o yeah...btw tried again all configs with 3dmark 2001 and found that my resaults are so close I cannot tell which is the best...say I run 1x3 back to backmy scores will differ by 10 to 20 points so then when I try all other configs the resaults may very but this could be a million different reasons...all are about within 10-20 points of each other:(...thanks for the info...I am just curious if there is a way that maybe more board is defunct or something?

[jonspd]

I gained about 150- 200 point's in DC with 3dmark2001. So if all you are getting is like a 10-20 point difference then there might be a problem.

[treepop]

...ok now after sandra it looks as though I can see a difference......here are results....
.................................................. .(1x3)2729(top)2621(bottom)
.................................................. .(2x3)2724(top)2612(bottom)
.................................................. .(1x2)2722(top)2499(bottom)
...as you can see the 1x2 yeilded the worst resaults in sandra...I feel this is a signifigent difference...altough the top # was mild in difference it still yeilded a difference and the bottom # is deffenitly higher.....I ran all of these test 2 times back to back and little change resulted.....and for the 3dmark socres I am running friends 9000pro 128meg..and this card gives results in the range of 8500 points so if there where a performance difference this wouldn't show as much as it would with scores of 15000....since 1% is 150 on a socre of 15000 but 1% on a score of 8500 is only 85....which is very hard to tell if change occured...ya think my sandra scores show that dual channel is working?.....and also do you feel my reasoning is correct?...thanks a ton jonspd for all of your help :D

[deeppow]

treepop,

On my Epox 8RGA+, the only way I can tell dual DDR is running is a quick message in the initial boot window as the bios begin the post. My NF7-S rev2 was trashed when it arrived but I seem to remember it did the same.

It isn't clear, at least to me, how to test dual DDR completely. I've done a reasonable amount of testing and noted it in this thread (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=185118). I would conclude that 3DMark2001 is a reasonably poor way to test dual DDR. 3DMark2003 is an even poorer way to test. The thread links to results so you can see the effect dual has on 3DMark2001 results as well as other benchmarks. I'll plot someday but got other things going on right now so you'll have to dig through the results, sorry bout that.

Bottom line is that dual DDR running sync on an AME mobo doesn't buy you a lot. The cpu fsb appears to bottleneck the performance. That conclusion has been said a number of times by others too. :D

By the way, BRAVO treepop!!! Someone that did more than one test so you can see what type of difference you get in one test from the next.

[treepop]

deeppow....thanks for the encouragment on my testing:D.....I found that the 1.2 bios revision just came out for my board and specificly states "use dimms 2 and 3" and now after the 1.2 bios revision say on boot running dual channel ddr....so now I am certain that I am in dual channel....and sandra seems to be the only way to test if my ram is actually performing better....thanks so much for all deeppow's and jonspd's help :D