Newbie question about real-world gains

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• Oct 26, 2005

• #1

Hey guys... this should be an easy question, I have an A64 3500+, Geforce 6800GT and 1.5gb of some generic RAM

In Doom 3 the system actually performs quite badly... i have to turn the detail down to a depressingly low level considering how much money I spent on this system about a year ago... and now Quake 4 is out and it runs on the Doom 3 engine I really want to be able to play it at a good framerate and some nice quality settings...

So my question is if I upgrade to some 2-2-2-5 RAM (mine is 3-3-3 at the moment) will I see some real-world gains? I'm not overclocking yet but a friend recommended this site to ask anyway.... I really don't want to shell out for another video card and be dissapointed again...

Thansk fellas!

 

Know Nuttin

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• Oct 26, 2005

• #2

you should use CPU-Z to see what speed your memory is running at now.

your system should be more than adequate and should not require you to turn the detail down.

please run 3dmark 2003/2005 and post your score.

to the forums. We love overclocking here but we also respect those that don't

 

OP

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• Oct 26, 2005

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Thanks dude. Attached is the info from cpu-z. I could have sworn i have 1.5gb not 1 but heh oh well

I'm downloading 3dmark05 now, i'll post the results when they come in. thanks again!

 

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4816 3dmarks with '05... hows that?

 

Last edited: Oct 26, 2005

Know Nuttin

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• Oct 27, 2005

• #5

seems a bit low to me.

Can you doublecheck inside your PC to see how many sticks of ram you have installed?
I see dual channel, but only 1024MB so you're short 512MB.

Have you done newer drivers?

 

IWasHungry

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• Oct 27, 2005

• #6

If you think you have three sticks of 512MB but CPU-Z reads only reads two, that could mean there's a faulty stick. Check to make sure (Just open your case, look inside. I do it all the time with my computer on, just don't touch the components while it's on LOL).

Also, you could try installing the latest video drivers from NVidia, after using Driver Cleaner to remove the old drivers.

 

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• Oct 27, 2005

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Well turns out I have 4 sticks of 256mb, hence the 1gb

and WTFFFFF I got the new nvidia drivers and my 3dmark05 score PLUMMETED to 2773!!!??? what the hell?? someone help me please,,,,

 

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• Oct 27, 2005

• #8

umm your ram frequency is only at 157 dude thats a problem. use a different divider to get to 200+

 

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• Oct 28, 2005

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Well i had a look through my bios settings, couldn't find anything to adjust the RAM frequency but i used a setting called "Top performance" or something that supposedly maxes performance... now cpu-z says my RAM is at 163mhz.... could it be dodgy ram?

Also I wen't back to the old video drivers, still 2700 3dmarks.... why would this happen??? This is tragic

Also back to the original question, would getting RAm with tighter timings give me a decent framerate boost in games?

 

Know Nuttin

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• Oct 28, 2005

• #10

not decent enough to account for your discrepancy in performance in relation to other similiar setups.

Is it possible for you to remove some ram modules and run only 512MB in dual channel? Then test? Sometimes, the memory controller will slow the memory speed when it finds ram that it is not 100% compatible with, in terms of running at the speeds the modules are spec'ed at.

 

Sjaak

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• Oct 28, 2005

• #11

Welcome to the forums!


Get rid of the 4x256 modules and get yourself 2x512. The motherboard you have cannot run 200Mhz FSB with 4 sticks (if i recall correctly).

Also make sure you have the latest drivers, run a defrag, even reinstall windows if it's really messed up badly.

Check the BIOS settings for your CPU, it may run underclocked

 

Nickdeveau

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• Oct 28, 2005

• #12

Were all these 256 modules seperate upgrades? It stands a good chance that if they were you might have thrown a 2100 stick in there and it brought all the other sticks down to match the frequency.

 

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• Oct 28, 2005

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All 4 sticks are kingston valueram KVR200etcetc, all exactly the same model. I'll take 2 otu and see where it gets me, thanks guys

 

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• Oct 29, 2005

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Looks like Sjaak was correct, took out two of the modules, to make 2x256, gone up to 208mhz but the timing have got higher.... what do you guys think i should do? thanks

 

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