Getting more from your PC by optimising your RAM

Fast Computer Memory, Optimising your PC Memory, Fast RAM, Secrets to RAM performance

Performance Secrets - Page Five

Secrets on how our PCs perform so much better than the competition

• Page 1: Intro \| Hard Disks I	• Page 4: Graphics Cards
• Page 2: Hard Disks II	• Page 5: Memory
• Page 3: Motherboards	Disclaimer

Memory

	1. Understand RAM
	There are many, many, many different types. As standard we advise that you should never mix two different sizes, speeds, types or makes of RAM. Definitely, don't mix SIMMS and DIMMS. Even when using all DIMMS a mix of 60 nanoseconds and 70 nanosecond chips will theoretically perform at the speed of the lowest chip but in practice will probably crash your PC more often. Speed is no good if you are going to have to reboot every half hour. Other reading: Kingston's "Ultimate" Guide to RAM. (See also Sharky Extreme)
	2. More is not necessarily better
	Erm, this goes contrary to all popular thought on the subject. But don't take our word for it. Test it out. As you keep adding more RAM to your PC speed increases to a certain point and then starts dropping - the law of diminishing returns. There are ways to stop performance dropping. One way is to use some of the extra RAM as a "virtual" hard disk. You would need a program like Ramdisk but we advise against it. Be also aware that the use of such programs on PCs sent in for review is considered cheating.

	3. Experimenting with makes
	Unfortunately, with RAM, unlike hard disks, there are hardly any decent reviews out there. If you have the luxury - like we do :-) - of trying various makes to identify the fastest then be prepared for a long haul. This takes time. Use Winstone or a similar overall performance benchmark for your comparisons. Keep detailed records of the make and model of RAM used on each test and the BIOS settings used for that test. Stick to branded memory like Kingston, Samsung, Micron and NEC rather than unknown makes. Preferably choose branded even over "Major on Third" (a major known brand chip on an unknown PCB).

	4. Know how it works
	For an explanation of how RAM works there's no better place than the How Stuff Works website, a very impressive website by any measure, and we are not easily impressed.

	5. Error Correcting RAM
	This is rarely used in standard PCs but it's a type of RAM that no decent server can be caught without. It is also called ECC RAM. It is generally a lot more expensive, and is not as easy to find in your local PC shop. As our performance guides here do not extend to covering the topic of servers we will just say this about ECC RAM: It is a lot more stable then standard RAM, but not as fast. If you do use it don't forget to tell your BIOS what type of RAM you've installed.

6. Know your BIOS

We keep coming back to this. That's only because it's so, so important. Unless you know what CAS and RAS latency mean you don't know that changing the setting from 3 to 2 will give you a marginally faster PC but a potentially less stable one. Go to the major RAM manufacturers' sites. They'll have loads of technical information on the RAM they sell, whether it's SIMMS, DIMMs, RIMMS, or whatever else comes along.

Look at this small extract of the technical specs of some models of Samsung memory:

Part No.	Max Freq. (Speed)	Interface	Package
K4S640832D-TC/L75 K4S640832D-TC/L80 K4S640832D-TC/L1H K4S640832D-TC/L1L K4S640832D-TC/L10	133MHz(CL=3) 125MHz(CL=3) 100MHz(CL=2) 100MHz(CL=3) 66MHz(CL=2 & 3)	LVTTL	54 TSOP(II)

Note that not all these models from Samsung support a CAS Latency of 2. You need to know what the RAM supports BEFORE you start making changes in your BIOS.

7. Other RAM in your PC

The standard RAM in your PC is not the only memory. There's memory on your graphics card, on your hard disk (cache/buffer), and there's cache on your processor. Often you even have two levels of cache on your processor. Windows does not automatically detect the right figures for all this RAM. NT, for example, always had to be told that the AMD K6-3 processors had both L1 cache and L2 cache on the processor itself. You can "tell" Windows by making/changing entries in the registry. Ensuring that the registry was set correctly to benefit from the extra processor cache is what enabled some of our earlier PCs in 1999 to score upto 10% higher than similar PCs from other manufacturers.

But checking and editing the registry is a whole new topic which we may cover here someday in the future.

We hope you found these performance secrets useful. We regret that there is a lot here that we haven't disclosed. But then this is a business and we don't want to give too much away to the competition.

The next time you are in the market for a PC buy it from a company that really knows how to build them. Buy your PC from us. We hope we've convinced you about the performance of our PCs. Now let's prove that our prices don't hurt. Click here

Standard Disclaimer

Your PC is your responsibility. All information provided here, including links, is provided without liability. Our standard recommendation is to never do anything on your computer unless you have a qualified engineer present. (That way you sue him and not us).
* Names are marks/trademarks/registered trademarks of other companies. We do not claim proprietary interest in names that do not belong to us.

Site last updated: June 2010