Ram

Tyler1

New Member
I jsut installed another gig of Kingston DDR400 in my PC. I dont see a hint of performance difference though. PC Probe shows all 4 slots full, and all the correct info. Is there any way to "poll" to see if its actually working?
 
Gee now you have twice as much as the 2gb of Kingston Value Ram used here! There are some freewares for system information that will show if the memory is actually working. The main problem after reaching 2gb is there are no programs besides CAD and other engineering applications that would actually see the difference. Those include cinematic and graphic design types where the need for large capacity is a must all too often.

There are professional as well as freeware tools like memtest to see if your memory is actually working properly. One retail product is seen with a rather strong need for updating information regarding cpus at http://www.uxd.com/rstpro.shtml

For software based memory testing you can look over information at http://www.esacademy.com/faq/docs/memtest/ or simply download the free Linux memory tester at http://www.memtest86.com/
 
I had 2 512's of Shikatronics DDR400, and I added another 2X 512's. Also, there are alot of DL links on that memtest page :)
 
I should rephase that to having twice as much as the Corsair memory previously used when first setting up the new build here. That's a different type of memory error there. :eek: That was done to see if memtest had correctly tested the dims on the prior build where it even showed some 573 errors there on the 2gb Kingston now used. Memtest later showed no errors with either pair in the new build.

RAMpage is a freeware that provides a live report on the memory available while sitting as an icon in the system tray. You can download that from http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/index.htm
 
Sorry PC, im having some issues making sense of your post. Not due to technical content..I'm just missing some of it, maybe im tired lol. Something in there about different ram...im using 1 channel kingston 1 channel Shika, is that bad? the PC guy said it was fine as long as the 2 dimm pairs were identical.

Second, thanks for the rampage program, fantastic. Is it normal for me to have almost 300m in use whn only running the basics, no webpages, just minimal stuff?
 
Your system and Windows itself grabs memory right off of the top. Seeing 196mb+ used right off is normal and to be expected. That's why increasing memory for running large apps and demanding games is a big help!

I spotted that tool sometime back but keep a cpu monitor running right where that goes in the system tray. With the two types having the same timings like 4-4-4-12 on a 4-4-4-12 board you shouldn't have any problems if there are no faults found in the second pair of dimms. Each pair being different makes should be separated by having the Kinsons on one channel and the Shika on the other. That should avoid any problems between the two different brands there.

The comment on a "different" kind of memory refers to the initial typo in the first reply! I was thinking in 1gb dimm terms there. :eek: aw crap! goober alert!
 
I jsut installed another gig of Kingston DDR400 in my PC. I dont see a hint of performance difference though. PC Probe shows all 4 slots full, and all the correct info. Is there any way to "poll" to see if its actually working?

installing an extra gig of RAM wont cause your system to work faster like it would have if you went from 512 to a gig.

the RAM is working fine; you just wont see the benefit until you start using a program or a game that will use over a gig of memory.

Battlefield 2 is an example where lot of memory improves performance.
 
Hairy Lee is right, uping your ram to 2gbs wont make your computer faster unless you were running out of 1gb and was using your virtual memory!
 
I found going from a matched pair of 512mb performance memory to two 1gb dimms of value ram actually smoothed things out like seeing far less crashes in some older games as well better performance in games like FEAR, PREY, Half Life 2. The game that crashed the most was the older ones like Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, Nightfire always to the desktop, Return to CastleWolfenstein, etc..
 
I did see the performace difference. I play City of Heroes, and my framrate went from around 7-15 to 20-40. I checked and while playing I only had 750m of free ram. So it was beneficial.

And yes, the 2 makes of ram are on different channels.

Thanks for all the help folks, really appreciate it.

Signed, Computer Noob.
 
Not only were the games found running better but Winodws Media Player 10 also saw a slight improvement where that runs smoother. But this is also being seen with two 1gb not four 512mb dimms being used.
 
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