Windows Experience Index drops after adding RAM

[Rich Bell]

I added 1 GB of RAM to my system to make a total of 3 GB. My Memory score
dropped from 4.2 to 2.4. I am running 3 sticks of identical memory. I am
running an ASUS K8NE-Deluxe MB with an AMD Athlon 3400 chip. I ran the
Windows memory diagnostic and it reports no errors. Removing the 3rd stick
of RAM returns the index to 4.2. Any ideas what is going on here?

 

[Captain Roberts]

I added 1 GB of RAM to my system to make a total of 3 GB. My Memory score
dropped from 4.2 to 2.4. I am running 3 sticks of identical memory. I am
running an ASUS K8NE-Deluxe MB with an AMD Athlon 3400 chip. I ran the
Windows memory diagnostic and it reports no errors. Removing the 3rd stick
of RAM returns the index to 4.2. Any ideas what is going on here?

When you are using only 2 sticks, your RAM is running in Dual-Channel mode,
but when you use 3 sticks it is running in Single-channel mode.

 

[Rich Bell]

When you are using only 2 sticks, your RAM is running in Dual-Channel
mode, but when you use 3 sticks it is running in Single-channel mode.

Thanks for the prompt reply. I guess it is time to build a new system. I
recently bought and HD camcorder and I wanted to upgrade my system to
hopefully improve performance with processing the HD files. I am assuming
there is no way to make this board use Dual channel mode with 3 memory
sticks?

 

[Captain Roberts]

Thanks for the prompt reply. I guess it is time to build a new system. I
recently bought and HD camcorder and I wanted to upgrade my system to
hopefully improve performance with processing the HD files. I am assuming
there is no way to make this board use Dual channel mode with 3 memory
sticks?

That is correct. Dual-Channel operates in pairs. Also note that you will
need to use Vista x64 for your system to see more than 3GB's of memory.