Increased memory but poorer performance?

[Mal7]

Just doubled my memory from 8GB to 16GB expecting a better performance (was mainly hoping it would help Flight Simulator). Modules are all Corsair DDR3 1333MHz 4GB sticks. They are on a Gigabyte 970A-D3 board with AMD FX 4100 CPU and Radeon HD 5700 graphics. Reran the Windows experience index and the memory value dropped by 0,1 to 7.5. Also flight simulator seems to run worse.
Should i have changed any settings somewhere to make sure they run well?

[autotech]

you can download cpud and that will tell you your timings make sure they are all correct and that your voltages are right for your kits. When running 4 sticks it is advisable to buy them all in one kit to avoid problems. Even though they are the same make and model they were bought seperatly. If you still have problems after setting timings and voltages try your new sticks by themselves and check them then put all 4 sticks back in and run memtest if it gives off errors on your last 2 modules return them and try a different set.

[MarkJohnson]

Just doubled my memory from 8GB to 16GB expecting a better performance (was mainly hoping it would help Flight Simulator). Modules are all Corsair DDR3 1333MHz 4GB sticks. They are on a Gigabyte 970A-D3 board with AMD FX 4100 CPU and Radeon HD 5700 graphics. Reran the Windows experience index and the memory value dropped by 0,1 to 7.5. Also flight simulator seems to run worse.
Should i have changed any settings somewhere to make sure they run well?

On top of what Autotech said,

Your scores can get worse and usually do get worse over time, depending on how long ago you last ran WEI.  In general they'll go down from everything from too many programs running, lots of pre-loaded crapware, spyware, and malware in general.  also 4 stick of ram put more of a load on your controller.  plus if you bought 2 different sets they aren't optimized so the timings will loosen on top of that.  Plus if one set is slower than the other, the faster ones will slow down to the slower ones level.

also, were you running out of memory?  8gb should be enough handle any game ever made, and 99.99% of all other applications.

If you want games to speed up, generally you upgrade your GPU.

also, pay no attention to WEI.  Use other tried and true benchmarks.  WEI is just a generic test with little value.

also, your bulldozer is designed to work with 1866memory.  I doubt you'll get a huge increase, but it may help a little.  At least memory will be able to feed your CPU at full speed amd eliminate any possible bottleneck there.

I'd consider returning those 1333 sticks and getting 1866 and sell the original set to get the tightest timing you can afford.  Mine are 1866 8-9-9-24 2t 1.5v.  *GB should be plenty unless you have a program that actually uses all 8GB of your ram.

After all is said and done, I'm sure you'll do fine with what you have.  I wouldn't expect memory to ever give you a full 1fps on any game.  If you want more fps, get the biggest video card you can afford, that matches your power supply load.

Luck
-=Mark=-

[Vezina]

Maybe the problem is unmatched RAM  or/and the fact that all memory controller banks are taken (you may be using double sided modules).

The AMD memory controller has some odd behaviors in some memory combinations.

I would sell the modules and put 2 X 8 Gb sticks at 1600 Mhz ,a  matched dual channel kit.

I was never able to run 4 modules on an AMD CPU no matter how identical i though they were or looked.

Use 2 matched sticks don t waste time with timing  tweaks.

[kosobai]

I was never able to run 4 modules on an AMD CPU no matter how identical i though they were or looked.

That's interesting. I'm running 4 modules with a 1065T and a 880GMA-USB3 board for a total of 16GiB RAM. It's stable @1333MHz and 7-7-7-19-1T timings - so it is possible to run 4 modules. They'll even run @1600MHz, but the timings are so loose (read 11-11-11-36 2T), it's actually more beneficial to run them @1333MHz!

If Thuban can drive 4 sticks then Bulldozer should be able to. Faulty RAM, maybe?

[Vezina]

kosobai ,the phrase was incomplete ,my bad.
I forgot to add "properly".

Your CPU has a better memory controller ,you can run the NB  at a higher frequency  anyway like 2600Mhz ,thing that i couldn t do with my X3 720 BE ,X2 550BE and X4 975 BE without my PC freezing randomly when going over 2200Mhz ,on multiple motherboards.Many users know anyway that the X6 has better memory controller than the native X4 P2.

The X3 720 BE had issues running 4 slots at 1333Mhz- DDR 3 or 1066Mhz-DDR2 with RAM certified at this speeds ,instability was observed.
The X4 975 BE has issues running with 4 slots taken or running 2 slots at 1600Mhz even though it pases Memtest (4 slots needs like 1066Mhz to be ok).

And generally speaking ,per specification of AMD CPU-s ,when all banks are taken it will require one notch memory speed drop.
Practically the CPU is stated to work at a speed with 2 modules but when all banks are taken you need to lower one notch for the memory controller to work properly.
I have used Corsair,Geil and Kingston ram ,maybe some other brands behave different ,i don t know.
The thread starter uses Corsair.

Maybe now i stated more clearly my observations.

Just trying to help Mal7 to avoid losing time in testing/tweaking something that will not work properly with expected performance.


LE: Mal7 try to set the ram to Ganged see what happens ,it s set to unganged by default in BIOS.

[Hippie Tech]

Just doubled my memory from 8GB to 16GB expecting a better performance (was mainly hoping it would help Flight Simulator). Modules are all Corsair DDR3 1333MHz 4GB sticks. They are on a Gigabyte 970A-D3 board with AMD FX 4100 CPU and Radeon HD 5700 graphics. Reran the Windows experience index and the memory value dropped by 0,1 to 7.5. Also flight simulator seems to run worse.
Should i have changed any settings somewhere to make sure they run well?

On top of what Autotech said,

Your scores can get worse and usually do get worse over time, depending on how long ago you last ran WEI.  In general they'll go down from everything from too many programs running, lots of pre-loaded crapware, spyware, and malware in general.  also 4 stick of ram put more of a load on your controller.  plus if you bought 2 different sets they aren't optimized so the timings will loosen on top of that.  Plus if one set is slower than the other, the faster ones will slow down to the slower ones level.

also, were you running out of memory?  8gb should be enough handle any game ever made, and 99.99% of all other applications.

If you want games to speed up, generally you upgrade your GPU.

also, pay no attention to WEI.  Use other tried and true benchmarks.  WEI is just a generic test with little value.

also, your bulldozer is designed to work with 1866memory.  I doubt you'll get a huge increase, but it may help a little.  At least memory will be able to feed your CPU at full speed amd eliminate any possible bottleneck there.

I'd consider returning those 1333 sticks and getting 1866 and sell the original set to get the tightest timing you can afford.  Mine are 1866 8-9-9-24 2t 1.5v.  *GB should be plenty unless you have a program that actually uses all 8GB of your ram.

After all is said and done, I'm sure you'll do fine with what you have.  I wouldn't expect memory to ever give you a full 1fps on any game.  If you want more fps, get the biggest video card you can afford, that matches your power supply load.

Luck
-=Mark=-

Your score will not decrease as you say it does lol..  Where did you hear that noobery ? :p

WEI is just quirky that way and 0.1 is nothing to worry about. Run memtest and other benchmarks to be sure.

pEACe

[johnbash]

Sure things are not always as you expect. I think it won't help you changing your settings. You should have thought of matching your BUS speed rather than increasing your memory.