More memory = Lower 3DMark05 score?

[Mav2KM]

so I have 2X 1Gb Mushkin DDR500 runnin 200FSB @ 3-4-3-7 with the rest of my system I get 3567 in 05. I had an extra 512MB of XMS LL PC3200 @ 2-2-2-5 and stuck it in my system and ran it at the mushkin timings my score droped 111 points! Why? Also, before you want to slap me for gettin DDR500 and running 200FSB, thats because I am waiting for a new PSU and Xp120 to run my 3.2p4 @ 4Ghz. I figuired in the mean time, why not stick my extra ram in there? So, again... why have my points gone down?

[avalanche83]

You probably took it out of dual channel when you put in that other stick. You went from 6.4Gb/s to 3.2Gb/s.

[Mav2KM]

It said (Dual channel Mode) on my boot screen, and on CUPZ... so?

[Kenshin Himura]

Am I correct in understanding that you are running 3 sticks (2x1 gig, 1x512 meg)? If that is the case, then you definitely are not running in dual channel, regardless of what things say. To run dual channel, you need two banks of equal memory quantity. You are currently running a bank of 1536 megs and a bank of 1024 megs, so dual channel is a no go. That would probably be the reason for the point loss. Another reason is that different runs of 3dmarks can have a bit of variance, though i dont know to what degree it applies to 05.

Good luck finding the solution (and I hope this is coherent, I'm really tired right now)

Kenshin Himura

[Mav2KM]

Yeah, that helped... I was just fooling around trying to get as much out of my system as I can, but ohwell... Its removed now so, no bother...

[Zebbo]

There's no FutureMark benchmark that would benefit from using 2GB over 1GB. As the common belief is that whatever you add, it will raise the benchmark points, well, that's not the case with 1GB vs 2GB. If the program doesn't benefit from 2GB, your points will go downwards because 2GB kits are not able to provide you timings like 1GB kit can.

Same happens in games that doesn't need that 2GB, your FPS will go downwards compared to 1GB.

[Steel23]

the more memory you add the higher the latency....between modules that is

[IWasHungry]

The benefits of more memory is obvious...but it also makes for slightly slower RAM.