- Joined
- Jun 29, 2003
- Location
- GTA
Hey guys. I am rather dissapointed with the performance of my system the way it is now. Basically, I was getting fairly decent (although a little low) 3dmark scores but limp ut2k3 scores (by about 20 fps on some occasions). Since my 3dmark game4 scores were decent, I came to the conclusion that the problem wasnt in my video card. Then I decided to try and O'C the cpu by like 10fsb and adding 1 to the multiplier to see whether the score would change a lot, but it only changed by <5 fps, so it couldnt have been my cpu. So then I checked my RAM out.
Well after meddling around in my BIOS, I found a few settings which caught my attention. These settings were the RAM timings. It was actually suggested to me before, but the person who suggested it to me said I would need qualityRAM. It wasnt until I saw how high my timings were did I see the downside to having ValueRAM. It turns out my SPD was actually telling the mobo to use timings which were worse than the default timings (3,4,4,10 vs Def: 2.5,3,3,7). Here are the actual settings from the BIOS (I'm not sure if I got the order right):
SDRAM CAS latency [3.0t (DDR)]
SDRAM RAS to CAS delay [4t]
SDRAM RAS precharge delay [4t]
SDRAM active precharge delay[10t]
So what I want to know is this: Could the ****ty RAM be what is bottlenecking my system?(for my benchmarks and system specs check the bottom of this post) If so is it possible to decrease the timings on the RAM I have now, or will I have to upgrade to quality RAM? What would the drawbacks be of just turning down the timings on the RAM I have now; would it be possible to turn them down just for like 1 benchmark to see what kind of difference it would make, or would that be too dangerous?
As always, any help would be greatly appreciated, I think this may be the solution to my PC's performance problems, and hopefully the remedy to a terrible headache I have had for the last few days.
Here are my system specs and benchmarks:
System Specs:
ASUS A7V8X-X Mobo
AMD AThlon XP 2500+ (Barton)
512 Mb DDR400 ValueRAM
RADEON 9800 pro
PCmark2002:
CPU-5500
MEM-4704
HDD-716
3dMark2003:
3DMark Score 5399 3DMarks
GT1 - Wings of Fury 148.0 fps
GT2 - Battle of Proxycon 38.3 fps
GT3 - Troll's Lair 33.4 fps
GT4 - Mother Nature 34.4 fps
CPU Score 447 CPUMarks
CPU Test 1 50.2 fps
CPU Test 2 7.9 fps
(All tests done with driver sliders all set to "high performance")
3DMark2001:
3DMark Score 14445
Game1 Low Detail - 189.3 fps
Game1 High Detail - 60.2 fps
Game2 Low Detail - 285.5 fps
Game2 High Detail - 145.3 fps
Game3 Low Detail - 157.2 fps
Game3 High Detail - 68.6 fps
Game4 - 132.2
(All tests done with driver sliders all set to "high performance")
Unreal Tournament 2k3:
-1024x768-
4xAA and 8xAF = 83.7 fps flyby, 49.0 fps botmatch
noAA and NoAF = 167.0 fps flyby,54.5 fps botmatch
-1280x960-
4xAA and 8xAF = 95.2 fps flyby,48.3 fps botmatch
noAA and noAF = 156.2 fps flyby,54.2 fps botmatch
-1600x1200-
4xAA and 8xAF = 50.2 fps flyby,24.8 fps botmatch
noAA and noAF = 120.7 fps flyby,53.6 fps botmatch
(All tests done with driver sliders all set to "high quality")
Well after meddling around in my BIOS, I found a few settings which caught my attention. These settings were the RAM timings. It was actually suggested to me before, but the person who suggested it to me said I would need qualityRAM. It wasnt until I saw how high my timings were did I see the downside to having ValueRAM. It turns out my SPD was actually telling the mobo to use timings which were worse than the default timings (3,4,4,10 vs Def: 2.5,3,3,7). Here are the actual settings from the BIOS (I'm not sure if I got the order right):
SDRAM CAS latency [3.0t (DDR)]
SDRAM RAS to CAS delay [4t]
SDRAM RAS precharge delay [4t]
SDRAM active precharge delay[10t]
So what I want to know is this: Could the ****ty RAM be what is bottlenecking my system?(for my benchmarks and system specs check the bottom of this post) If so is it possible to decrease the timings on the RAM I have now, or will I have to upgrade to quality RAM? What would the drawbacks be of just turning down the timings on the RAM I have now; would it be possible to turn them down just for like 1 benchmark to see what kind of difference it would make, or would that be too dangerous?
As always, any help would be greatly appreciated, I think this may be the solution to my PC's performance problems, and hopefully the remedy to a terrible headache I have had for the last few days.
Here are my system specs and benchmarks:
System Specs:
ASUS A7V8X-X Mobo
AMD AThlon XP 2500+ (Barton)
512 Mb DDR400 ValueRAM
RADEON 9800 pro
PCmark2002:
CPU-5500
MEM-4704
HDD-716
3dMark2003:
3DMark Score 5399 3DMarks
GT1 - Wings of Fury 148.0 fps
GT2 - Battle of Proxycon 38.3 fps
GT3 - Troll's Lair 33.4 fps
GT4 - Mother Nature 34.4 fps
CPU Score 447 CPUMarks
CPU Test 1 50.2 fps
CPU Test 2 7.9 fps
(All tests done with driver sliders all set to "high performance")
3DMark2001:
3DMark Score 14445
Game1 Low Detail - 189.3 fps
Game1 High Detail - 60.2 fps
Game2 Low Detail - 285.5 fps
Game2 High Detail - 145.3 fps
Game3 Low Detail - 157.2 fps
Game3 High Detail - 68.6 fps
Game4 - 132.2
(All tests done with driver sliders all set to "high performance")
Unreal Tournament 2k3:
-1024x768-
4xAA and 8xAF = 83.7 fps flyby, 49.0 fps botmatch
noAA and NoAF = 167.0 fps flyby,54.5 fps botmatch
-1280x960-
4xAA and 8xAF = 95.2 fps flyby,48.3 fps botmatch
noAA and noAF = 156.2 fps flyby,54.2 fps botmatch
-1600x1200-
4xAA and 8xAF = 50.2 fps flyby,24.8 fps botmatch
noAA and noAF = 120.7 fps flyby,53.6 fps botmatch
(All tests done with driver sliders all set to "high quality")