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#1
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Running single channel memory on a dual channel board: Performancehit
I originally posted this question to the laptop group but couldn't get
a satisfactory answer to my question so I'm posting it here because I've found this group to be very knowledgeable and helpful. I bought a Toshiba M115 Dual Core laptop, running at 533mhz, with 512 (two 256 meg bricks) of memory running in dual channel. It came with with the Win XP Media Center OS. I'm thinking of upgrading the memory to either 1 gig or maybe even two gigs --which is very expensive given that I payed $750.00 for the laptop (bought it in the USA, brought it back to Norway). Checking the Crucial site, two matched pairs of 512 meg bricks costs $151.99, whereas two matched 1 gig bricks costs $278.00 My question is: how much of a performance hit will I take if I decide to buy a a 1 gig brick and replace that for one of the 256 bricks -and maybe buy another 1 gig brick later, if I feel like I need it. I understand that doing so means that I'll be running single channel...but will I notice a performance hit? I'm not a gamer but I do have Photoshop installed on it, and Photoshop will use all the memory it can get. Off topic but kind of related, the laptop came with a ton of software most of which I've deleted but the Task Manager shows that it's running 60 some processes, taking up around 300 megs of memory. Many of the descriptions of the processes in the Task Manager are sort of cryptic, meaning that I have to Google each process to see what it does, and I've frankly been to lazy to do it at this point. Still, it would be nice to free up 100 megs or so. --PS |
#2
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Running single channel memory on a dual channel board: Performancehit
P Settli wrote:
I bought a Toshiba M115 Dual Core laptop, running at 533mhz, with 512 (two 256 meg bricks) of memory running in dual channel. It came with with the Win XP Media Center OS. I'm thinking of upgrading the memory to either 1 gig or maybe even two gigs --which is very expensive given that I payed $750.00 for the laptop (bought it in the USA, brought it back to Norway). Checking the Crucial site, two matched pairs of 512 meg bricks costs $151.99, whereas two matched 1 gig bricks costs $278.00 My question is: how much of a performance hit will I take if I decide to buy a a 1 gig brick and replace that for one of the 256 bricks -and maybe buy another 1 gig brick later, if I feel like I need it. I understand that doing so means that I'll be running single channel...but will I notice a performance hit? I'm not a gamer but I do have Photoshop installed on it, and Photoshop will use all the memory it can get. I doubt there's going to be much that's noticeable, except in benchmarks. I don't know if you'll be able to mix and match the 256M & the 1G modules together though, regardless of whether you want to settle with single-channel. Off topic but kind of related, the laptop came with a ton of software most of which I've deleted but the Task Manager shows that it's running 60 some processes, taking up around 300 megs of memory. Many of the descriptions of the processes in the Task Manager are sort of cryptic, meaning that I have to Google each process to see what it does, and I've frankly been to lazy to do it at this point. Still, it would be nice to free up 100 megs or so. That's a typical XP install these days. If you're really into optimization then you can try Black Viper's Windows XP Tweak site. It's no longer being updated, but it's been mirrored statically. Black Viper's Windows Xp Services Configuration - BestTechie Forums http://www.besttechie.net/forums/ind...showtopic=3007 Yousuf Khan |
#3
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Running single channel memory on a dual channel board: Performancehit
Yousuf Khan wrote:
[cut] Thanks for the reply. I doubt there's going to be much that's noticeable, except in benchmarks. I don't know if you'll be able to mix and match the 256M & the 1G modules together though, regardless of whether you want to settle with single-channel. This was new to me. I just assumed that it would run in single channel mode with the 256meg and the 1 gig modules. Off topic but kind of related, the laptop came with a ton of software most of which I've deleted but the Task Manager shows that it's running 60 some processes, taking up around 300 megs of memory. Many of the descriptions of the processes in the Task Manager are sort of cryptic, meaning that I have to Google each process to see what it does, and I've frankly been to lazy to do it at this point. Still, it would be nice to free up 100 megs or so. That's a typical XP install these days. If you're really into optimization then you can try Black Viper's Windows XP Tweak site. It's no longer being updated, but it's been mirrored statically. Black Viper's Windows Xp Services Configuration - BestTechie Forums http://www.besttechie.net/forums/ind...showtopic=3007 I'm familiar with Black Viper and used his Windows Services guide to set up my still (so-so) adequate Athlon 1.33 gig desktop (with one gig of memory and a 32meg AGP graphics card). I got the running services down to twenty something. The problem with the services running now is that in addition to the Windows ones, there's also the Toshiba services, Intel services, Realtek services, etc. Last night I thought I'd give it another shot and after Googling a bit came upon: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ I opened Task Manager and started working away --but gave up after about an hour- with the pretense that my time was more valuable than the time it would take to free up the 100 meg. OTOH, if I was stupid enough to run out tomorrow and buy a fresh copy of WinXP Home, and install it, the laptop would run...wouldn't it? Oh yes, one last point: I was sort of maybe, kind of thinking of installing Rome:Total War on it, a game that came out in 2004. From a reply I got a Norwegian newsgroup, I'd definitely have run the laptop in dual channel mode to have even a chance of being able to play the game and that might even be problematic. I looked up the Intel game compatibility page and Rome:Total War wasn't listed. http://www.intel.com/support/graphic.../CS-021400.htm Thanks again for the reply. --PS |
#4
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Running single channel memory on a dual channel board: Performancehit
P Settli wrote:
This was new to me. I just assumed that it would run in single channel mode with the 256meg and the 1 gig modules. I could be wrong, but it seems to me when you put one module into one of the slots, then it automatically assumes a 64-bit path between memory and memory controller (i.e. single-channel). When you put two modules in, it automatically assumes a 128-bit path (i.e. dual-channel). Now unless both modules are as large as each other it's not going to have a clearly defined 128-bit channel available all of the way through. OTOH, if I was stupid enough to run out tomorrow and buy a fresh copy of WinXP Home, and install it, the laptop would run...wouldn't it? You're probably still going to have to install of the same drivers all over again. And some customized utilities that are included with your Toshiba won't be available on the generic XP Home cd anyways. Oh yes, one last point: I was sort of maybe, kind of thinking of installing Rome:Total War on it, a game that came out in 2004. From a reply I got a Norwegian newsgroup, I'd definitely have run the laptop in dual channel mode to have even a chance of being able to play the game and that might even be problematic. I looked up the Intel game compatibility page and Rome:Total War wasn't listed. http://www.intel.com/support/graphic.../CS-021400.htm I'd say this is a lost cause, if all you have is Intel graphics. At least with an AMD-based laptop, you're likely guaranteed either an ATI or Nvidia graphics chipset (whether it's an IGP or discrete GPU). ATI or Nvidia would have proper DirectX9+ compliant hardware. I ran a game called Black & White 2 which is a role-player too. Even role-players need full 3D hardware these days to play games. Fortunately my Turion laptop could play it, unfortunately, despite all of the requisite hardware being available, it still doesn't guarantee that it's going to run fast! Yousuf Khan |
#5
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Running single channel memory on a dual channel board: Performancehit
On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:07:29 +0100, P Settli wrote:
Yousuf Khan wrote: [cut] Thanks for the reply. I doubt there's going to be much that's noticeable, except in benchmarks. I don't know if you'll be able to mix and match the 256M & the 1G modules together though, regardless of whether you want to settle with single-channel. This was new to me. I just assumed that it would run in single channel mode with the 256meg and the 1 gig modules. Yes, you can do that... what Intel calls Dual Channel Asymmetric Mode - addresses run up through the end of Channel A and continue on Channel B. Off topic but kind of related, the laptop came with a ton of software most of which I've deleted but the Task Manager shows that it's running 60 some processes, taking up around 300 megs of memory. Many of the descriptions of the processes in the Task Manager are sort of cryptic, meaning that I have to Google each process to see what it does, and I've frankly been to lazy to do it at this point. Still, it would be nice to free up 100 megs or so. That's a typical XP install these days. If you're really into optimization then you can try Black Viper's Windows XP Tweak site. It's no longer being updated, but it's been mirrored statically. Black Viper's Windows Xp Services Configuration - BestTechie Forums http://www.besttechie.net/forums/ind...showtopic=3007 I'm familiar with Black Viper and used his Windows Services guide to set up my still (so-so) adequate Athlon 1.33 gig desktop (with one gig of memory and a 32meg AGP graphics card). I got the running services down to twenty something. The problem with the services running now is that in addition to the Windows ones, there's also the Toshiba services, Intel services, Realtek services, etc. Last night I thought I'd give it another shot and after Googling a bit came upon: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ I opened Task Manager and started working away --but gave up after about an hour- with the pretense that my time was more valuable than the time it would take to free up the 100 meg. As Yousuf says, it's typical for WinXP and especially notebook comouters which tend to have specialized devices. What is annoying is all the "call home" crap which is supposed to be "checking for updates"... *but* since it was a "free" OEM copy of the software, you're not actually entitled to any updates anyway, e.g. Sonic's RecordNow & DLA. I'd recommend Process Explorer from www.sysinternals.com to see what's actually running and may provide enough info to avoid having to Google each process for its purpose. OTOH, if I was stupid enough to run out tomorrow and buy a fresh copy of WinXP Home, and install it, the laptop would run...wouldn't it? You probably would not have all your devices, e.g. drivers and control software for touchpad mouse, power management, modem etc. -- Rgds, George Macdonald |
#6
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Running single channel memory on a dual channel board: Performancehit
George Macdonald wrote:
On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:07:29 +0100, P Settli wrote: Yousuf Khan wrote: [cut] Thanks for the reply. I doubt there's going to be much that's noticeable, except in benchmarks. I don't know if you'll be able to mix and match the 256M & the 1G modules together though, regardless of whether you want to settle with single-channel. This was new to me. I just assumed that it would run in single channel mode with the 256meg and the 1 gig modules. Yes, you can do that... what Intel calls Dual Channel Asymmetric Mode - addresses run up through the end of Channel A and continue on Channel B. I opened up the memory module compartment on the laptop, expecting to find two 256 meg chips. Intead - I found that it came with a single 512 meg chip, which means it's been running in single channel mode all along. I could have sworn it came with two 256 meg chips. Why would Toshiba put a single memory chip in dual channel board? Of course it does make it a whole lot cheaper to upgrade to 1 gig and have it run in dual channel - but still? (snip) I opened Task Manager and started working away --but gave up after about an hour- with the pretense that my time was more valuable than the time it would take to free up the 100 meg. As Yousuf says, it's typical for WinXP and especially notebook comouters which tend to have specialized devices. What is annoying is all the "call home" crap which is supposed to be "checking for updates"... *but* since it was a "free" OEM copy of the software, you're not actually entitled to any updates anyway, e.g. Sonic's RecordNow & DLA. I'd recommend Process Explorer from www.sysinternals.com to see what's actually running and may provide enough info to avoid having to Google each process for its purpose. Right- I deleted Real Audio and downloaded Real Alternative, to cite one example. I've downloaded Processor Explorer and am checking it out. Thanks. OTOH, if I was stupid enough to run out tomorrow and buy a fresh copy of WinXP Home, and install it, the laptop would run...wouldn't it? You probably would not have all your devices, e.g. drivers and control software for touchpad mouse, power management, modem etc. I did that once already. I disabled the Synaptic touchpad driver and had to enable it again with my external mouse. It made me real gun shy about disabling stuff. Idiot Watch: I am probably the only person reading this group who didn't know that the Core Duo processor wasn't a 64 bit processor (I've been sleeping in class- I grow old, I grow old, I wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled). I thought I was getting a real deal - a dual core 64 bit laptop for $750 minus a $150 rebate (which I've yet to see and have every reason to believe will never see). That said, it's a decent laptop, with more than enough processor power, suitable for my needs. After I install another 512 megs of ram and delete/disable some more of the crap it'll be even better. Shame about the 950 Graphic Accelerator and 3D though. Thanks George and Yousuf for your replies. --PS |
#7
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Running single channel memory on a dual channel board: Performance hit
P Settli wrote: George Macdonald wrote: On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:07:29 +0100, P Settli wrote: Yousuf Khan wrote: I opened up the memory module compartment on the laptop, expecting to find two 256 meg chips. Intead - I found that it came with a single 512 meg chip, which means it's been running in single channel mode all along. I could have sworn it came with two 256 meg chips. Why would Toshiba put a single memory chip in dual channel board? Cheap, cheap, cheap : ) Of course it does make it a whole lot cheaper to upgrade to 1 gig and have it run in dual channel - but still? Right- I deleted Real Audio and downloaded Real Alternative, to cite one example. I've downloaded Processor Explorer and am checking it out. Thanks. I did that once already. I disabled the Synaptic touchpad driver and had to enable it again with my external mouse. It made me real gun shy about disabling stuff. That's one of the problems with laptops; it's hard to say what is important, what is convenient and what is essential. Idiot Watch: I am probably the only person reading this group who didn't know that the Core Duo processor wasn't a 64 bit processor (I've been sleeping in class- I grow old, I grow old, I wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled). I thought I was getting a real deal - a dual core 64 bit laptop for $750 minus a $150 rebate (which I've yet to see and have every reason to believe will never see). That said, it's a decent laptop, with more than enough processor power, suitable for my needs. After I install another 512 megs of ram and delete/disable some more of the crap it'll be even better. Shame about the 950 Graphic Accelerator and 3D though. I wouldn't worry about 64 versus 32 bit...you don't have any applications that really require it. You might want to try and install Rome anyway once you have 1GB. The battle scenes won't be great, but I usually spend much more time on the overland map, which really isn't 3D. DK |
#8
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Running single channel memory on a dual channel board: Performance hit
On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 01:23:43 +0100, P Settli wrote:
George Macdonald wrote: On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:07:29 +0100, P Settli wrote: Yousuf Khan wrote: [cut] Thanks for the reply. I doubt there's going to be much that's noticeable, except in benchmarks. I don't know if you'll be able to mix and match the 256M & the 1G modules together though, regardless of whether you want to settle with single-channel. This was new to me. I just assumed that it would run in single channel mode with the 256meg and the 1 gig modules. Yes, you can do that... what Intel calls Dual Channel Asymmetric Mode - addresses run up through the end of Channel A and continue on Channel B. I opened up the memory module compartment on the laptop, expecting to find two 256 meg chips. Intead - I found that it came with a single 512 meg chip, which means it's been running in single channel mode all along. I could have sworn it came with two 256 meg chips. Why would Toshiba put a single memory chip in dual channel board? Of course it does make it a whole lot cheaper to upgrade to 1 gig and have it run in dual channel - but still? That was always the best option -- a single SO-DIMM with one empty for upgrade -- and was often the more expensive configuration if a choice was available. The dual channel thingy has muddied that up though; in your case it probably boiled down to what was most available in the parts inventory on the day they built the system. (snip) I opened Task Manager and started working away --but gave up after about an hour- with the pretense that my time was more valuable than the time it would take to free up the 100 meg. As Yousuf says, it's typical for WinXP and especially notebook comouters which tend to have specialized devices. What is annoying is all the "call home" crap which is supposed to be "checking for updates"... *but* since it was a "free" OEM copy of the software, you're not actually entitled to any updates anyway, e.g. Sonic's RecordNow & DLA. I'd recommend Process Explorer from www.sysinternals.com to see what's actually running and may provide enough info to avoid having to Google each process for its purpose. Right- I deleted Real Audio and downloaded Real Alternative, to cite one example. I've downloaded Processor Explorer and am checking it out. Thanks. OTOH, if I was stupid enough to run out tomorrow and buy a fresh copy of WinXP Home, and install it, the laptop would run...wouldn't it? You probably would not have all your devices, e.g. drivers and control software for touchpad mouse, power management, modem etc. I did that once already. I disabled the Synaptic touchpad driver and had to enable it again with my external mouse. It made me real gun shy about disabling stuff. Idiot Watch: I am probably the only person reading this group who didn't know that the Core Duo processor wasn't a 64 bit processor (I've been sleeping in class- I grow old, I grow old, I wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled). I thought I was getting a real deal - a dual core 64 bit laptop for $750 minus a $150 rebate (which I've yet to see and have every reason to believe will never see). That said, it's a decent laptop, with more than enough processor power, suitable for my needs. After I install another 512 megs of ram and delete/disable some more of the crap it'll be even better. Shame about the 950 Graphic Accelerator and 3D though. Still sounds like a decent deal all the same and I doubt you're ever going to really fret about the lack of 64-bit. In 32-bit mode, the reports I'm seeing are that the mobile C2D does not gain as much as the desktop version in benchmark tests over previous systems. -- Rgds, George Macdonald |
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