One Stick of DDR2 in an AMD64 X2 5600+

[Roger]

I just built a new system with an MSI K9NBPM2-FID board, AMD 64 X2
Dual-Core 5600+, and one stick of Patriot 800MHz 1 Gig memory.

My application only needed a gig of memory and I had read that the AMD
processors showed little or no benefit using the dual-channel mode.

However, MemTest86+ (v1.70) shows my memory transfer rate at only 887
MB/s with the processor running at 2817 MHz. This seems really slow
compared with my older systems.

So did I get bad advise about the AMD dual-channel benefit? Anyone have
pointers to MemTest86 memory transfer rates for similar systems? I am
not an over-clocker, I want to run stable, but at the optimum settings.

Roger

 

[Tom]

I just ordered an HP s3020e which comes with 1GB of memory. I called
around for details on upgrading to 2 GB. I was told that dual channel
memory only works when both memory slots are filled; that's why my
system didn't come with a single 1GB module but rather with two 512 K
modules.

-Tom

 

[Gert Elstermann]

I just built a new system with an MSI K9NBPM2-FID board, AMD 64 X2
Dual-Core 5600+, and one stick of Patriot 800MHz 1 Gig memory.

My application only needed a gig of memory and I had read that the AMD
processors showed little or no benefit using the dual-channel mode.

However, MemTest86+ (v1.70) shows my memory transfer rate at only 887
MB/s with the processor running at 2817 MHz. This seems really slow
compared with my older systems.

So did I get bad advise about the AMD dual-channel benefit?

Hearsay is that Athlon systems are more responsive to dual channel
than Core2 Duo systems.

Anyone have
pointers to MemTest86 memory transfer rates for similar systems?

I use Everest (version 2.20 which is free*) memory benching which
provides data for other systems, for comparison**.

I am
not an over-clocker, I want to run stable, but at the optimum settings.

So am I.

Roy


*e. g. at <http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html>

**For my Athlon 64 3000+ single channel system, Everest 2.20 shows a
memory read bench of 3007 MB/s - as compared to 5100 MB/s for an
Athlon 64 X2 4800+ dual channel system.
The memory write marks are 1259 MB/s and 1650 MB/s, resp.