Thinkpads Forum

Evenin' all:

I have two T430 thinkpads. Love 'em both! Just one question..... my T430 has 12Gb (4Gb + 8Gb) memory, my dagugter's T430 has 8Gb (2x4Gb). All memory is PC3-12800 and the computers are otherwise identical spec. My daughter's Windows Index for memory is 7.5, while mine is 7.2 (all other performance indeces are identical). Is this because the system is dual channel and I have different size SODIMMS in mine?

I don't notice any discernable differences, of course, but I'm curious as to why the difference.

Windows Index is not a good indicator of anything. Yes "dual" channel memory is an improvement but a very very slight improvement. 99.9% of the time you will never ever notice the performance difference. Capacity is a factor but is not relevant in your case as both machines have more than sufficient capacity. The current setup that you have is as ideal as it.

On most systems for most users, the biggest improvement is a SSD, then RAM capacity followed by CPU speed.

It is definitely not anything that would be noticeable. It only helps in situations where memory is the bottleneck, and Intel created hyperthreading for this very issue. Unless your computer is crunching data at 100% CPU usage for 24/7/365, it will not make any difference if you are using a single module Vs. two. I am unfamiliar with having modules of differing capacity effects WEI scores. Have you tried re-running the tests and making sure unnecessary services are running?

Yes, identical machines, fresh factory W7 installs (same recovery DVDs), services running are the same. Couldn't figure it out.

There is symmetrical dual channel (or true dual channel), which is the way it works when there are two modules of the same size and asymmetrical dual channel that works on or off in dual channel mode depending on what region of the memory you're accessing and is the mode active when there are two modules of different sizes. A single module always runs on single channel.

It's not a difference you can notice most of the time as they already said. Newer designs with the memory controller in the CPU die rely much more on the internal cache than the older northbridge memory controller designs. You're likely to notice more the difference in memory size than in speed. But I'm also skeptical that you'll notice any difference between 8, 12 and 16GB. I know I don't. I don't really notice much difference between 4GB and 8GB, if at all.

Update: I removed the OEM Lenovo (hynix) 4GB SODIMM from the first memory bank under the keyboard and replaced it with the 8GB Kingston SODIMM from the second memory bank on the back of the computer. With 8GB Kingston memory (PC 12800) the Windows Experience Index memory score remains at 7.2. Adding the 4GB SODIM to another T40 with a 4GB OEM memory SODIMM, for 8GB total, has an index of 7.5 (like the original comparison machine). So it looks like my Kingston 8GB PC 12800 SODIMM is measurably slower than 2 OEM Hynix 4GB PC 12800 SODIMMs.

Anybody else seen performance differences netween memory manufacurers like this?

Different RAM modules have different timings. You can easily look the timings up by Googling the model numbers on each stick. Or use software like Speccy from Piriform.

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