1800MHz Flare Upgrade: no performance change ?

[Earl H]

Current Combination:

CPU: AMD Phenom II 1090t @ 4026MHz
Motherboard: Gibabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H
RAM: G.SKILL Flare 4GB DDR3 1800 @1800 (Timings: CAS 9 at 9.9.9.24 2T )
CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212
HDDs: Crucial C300 64GB SSD (Boot), Media: (16) 2TB Samsung Spinpoint F4
Raid Cards: Areca 1222 and Areca 1202

Major Uses: Media Server and Hi Def Media Encoding


I recently switched to the Flares from a cheap set of Crucial Stix: SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Model CT25664BA1339.Running the same timing.
I upgraded expecting to see some improvement, however even when re-running WEI, my score didn't change, remaining at 5.9.
Any ideas on what could be wrong? Btw, I did adjust the Flare timings based on the 1,800 recommended specs in the BIOS.

[GSKILL TECH]

Maybe low available memory. Whether you have DDR3-1800 or DDR3-1333, if you available memory is low, the WEI score will be low.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Earl H]

Well, when I've run the test mem usage is only < 30% (just after boot up). I am running 4GB at this time. Would that be considered low?

[GSKILL TECH]

Should not be.. what is your NB Frequency @ DDR3-1800?

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Earl H]

It is set at 2,400MHz (CPU Set at 4,000MHz)

[GSKILL TECH]

Try putting them together to run 8GB and see if that raises WEI.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Earl H]

Unfortunately, I cant use the two sets together (and unsure if the Crucial and GSkill would play together) as the 1st two slots on my MB or blocked by my CPU Cooler. The 3rd and 4th slots are reserved for OC mem sticks (Gigabyte MB).

[LeetMiniWheat]

WEI is always rated by the lowest score. for example if your hdd is 5.9 your total score will be limited to 5.9, maybe this is what is occurring?

[Earl H]

No...the 5.9 is specifically the memory score...I'm using onboard graphics so those are my lowest scores.

The machine is mainly used as a HD media encoder/media server, so I'm trying to max out CPU(7.6 WEI), HDD (7.9) and memory...kinda weird cuz I would have expected that with this upgrade that I would at least match my HP notebook which has a memory score of 7.4. Wonder if just have bad stix.

[Earl H]

Unfortunately, it looks like I wasted my money on this one. No performance gain to be had...real world or benchmark. I've tried it on all settings: 1333, 1600 and 1,800 with as many timing settings as would remain stable. Time to return and try another brand. Too bad, I really like the G.Skill SSD that I have in my notebook.

[Tradesman]

Is WEI being run with a clean system, or do you have things out there that load at start up, 5.9 is definitely too low.

[Earl H]

It's pretty clean as far as startup...not much running other than required stuff. Machine only does two things...media server and encoding...not much in the way of software on it.

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

There HAS to be something wrong with your setup.

My setup:
AMD Athlon II X4 620 @2.6GHz
Gigabyte 770 mainboard
G.Skill 4GB DDR3-1333 8-8-8-24
BFG GTS 250 1GB
Seagate 160GB 7200.12 SATA

My WEI scores:
CPU: 7.3
RAM: 7.3
2D: 6.9
3D: 6.9
HD: 5.9

[Tradesman]

WEI can come up w/ some screwy numbers, have you tried any BM programs on the DRAM?