Increased RAM having no apparent effect

[muggles]

I'm running Windows XP Home SP3 on an AMD Athlon 3000+ 2.17ghz. I've just upgraded from 512MB of RAM to 3GB (I used the Crucial scan to find the right memory for my ASUS A7N8X motherboard and bought what they recommended).

My problem is that this seems to have had absolutely no effect on my system's performance. If I look at the Properties of My Computer then the full 3GB is displayed, so it recognises that it's there, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be using it, there's certainly not the marked performance difference I expected.

Here's part of my CPU-Z registers dump, hopefully someone can make sense of it - I can't post it all because it's too long, but I'll PM it to you if required

-------------------------
CPU-Z version 1.50
-------------------------
Processors Map
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of processors 1
Number of threads 1
Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0

Processors Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Processor 1 (ID = 0)
Number of cores 1 (max 1)
Number of threads 1 (max 1)
Name AMD Athlon XP
Codename Barton
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3000+
Package Socket A (462)
CPUID 6.A.0
Extended CPUID 7.A
Core Stepping
Technology 0.13 um
Core Speed 2171.7 MHz (13.0 x 167.1 MHz)
Rated Bus speed 334.1 MHz
Instructions sets MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE
L1 Data cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control no
Features
K7 Thermal sensor yes

Thread dumps
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU Thread 0
APIC ID 0
Topology Processor ID 0, Core ID 0, Thread ID 0
Type 02001002h
Max CPUID level 00000001h
Max CPUID ext. level 80000008h
Function eax ebx ecx edx
0x00000000 0x00000001 0x68747541 0x444D4163 0x69746E65
0x00000001 0x000006A0 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x0383FBFF
0x80000000 0x80000008 0x68747541 0x444D4163 0x69746E65
0x80000001 0x000007A0 0x00000000 0x00000000 0xC1C3FBFF
0x80000002 0x20444D41 0x6C687441 0x74286E6F 0x5820296D
0x80000003 0x30332050 0x002B3030 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000004 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
0x80000005 0x0408FF08 0xFF20FF10 0x40020140 0x40020140
0x80000006 0x00000000 0x41004100 0x02008140 0x00000000
0x80000007 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000001
0x80000008 0x00002022 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
Cache descriptor Level 1 I 64 KB 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 1 D 64 KB 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 2 U 512 KB 1 thread(s)
MSR 0x0000001B edx = 0x00000000 eax = 0xFEE00900
MSR 0xC0010015 edx = 0x00000000 eax = 0x040B1008

Chipset
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northbridge NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 rev. C1
Southbridge NVIDIA nForce2 MCP-T rev. A4
Memory Type DDR
Memory Size 3072 MBytes
Channels Dual
Memory Frequency 167.1 MHz (1:1)
CAS# 2.5
RAS# to CAS# 3
RAS# Precharge 3
Cycle Time (tRAS) 7

Memory SPD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DIMM #1
General
Memory type DDR
Manufacturer (ID) Micron Technology (2C00000000000000)
Size 1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2700 (166 MHz)
Part number 16VDDT12864AY335F2
Serial number E22D911A
Manufacturing date Week 07/Year 09
Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Registered no
Buffered no
Nominal Voltage 2.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP no
Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 133 166
CAS# 2.0 2.5
RAS# to CAS# delay 3 3
RAS# Precharge 3 3
TRAS 6 7

DIMM #2
General
Memory type DDR
Manufacturer (ID) Micron Technology (2C00000000000000)
Size 1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2700 (166 MHz)
Part number 16VDDT12864AY335F2
Serial number E22D9121
Manufacturing date Week 07/Year 09
Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Registered no
Buffered no
Nominal Voltage 2.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP no
Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 133 166
CAS# 2.0 2.5
RAS# to CAS# delay 3 3
RAS# Precharge 3 3
TRAS 6 7

DIMM #3
General
Memory type DDR
Manufacturer (ID) Micron Technology (2C00000000000000)
Size 1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2700 (166 MHz)
Part number 16VDDT12864AY335F2
Serial number E22D911B
Manufacturing date Week 07/Year 09
Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Registered no
Buffered no
Nominal Voltage 2.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP no
Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 133 166
CAS# 2.0 2.5
RAS# to CAS# delay 3 3
RAS# Precharge 3 3
TRAS 6 7

Dump Module #1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
00 80 08 07 0D 0B 02 40 00 04 60 70 00 82 08 00 01
10 0E 04 0C 01 02 20 C0 75 70 00 00 48 30 48 2A 80
20 80 80 45 45 00 00 00 00 00 3C 48 30 2D 55 00 01
30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 69
40 2C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 31 36 56 44 44 54 31
50 32 38 36 34 41 59 33 33 35 46 32 02 00 09 07 E2
60 2D 91 1A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
80 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
90 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
A0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
B0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
C0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
D0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
E0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
F0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

Dump Module #2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
00 80 08 07 0D 0B 02 40 00 04 60 70 00 82 08 00 01
10 0E 04 0C 01 02 20 C0 75 70 00 00 48 30 48 2A 80
20 80 80 45 45 00 00 00 00 00 3C 48 30 2D 55 00 01
30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 69
40 2C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 31 36 56 44 44 54 31
50 32 38 36 34 41 59 33 33 35 46 32 02 00 09 07 E2
60 2D 91 21 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
80 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
90 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
A0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
B0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
C0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
D0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
E0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
F0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

Dump Module #3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
00 80 08 07 0D 0B 02 40 00 04 60 70 00 82 08 00 01
10 0E 04 0C 01 02 20 C0 75 70 00 00 48 30 48 2A 80
20 80 80 45 45 00 00 00 00 00 3C 48 30 2D 55 00 01
30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 69
40 2C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 31 36 56 44 44 54 31
50 32 38 36 34 41 59 33 33 35 46 32 02 00 09 07 E2
60 2D 91 1B 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
80 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
90 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
A0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
B0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
C0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
D0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
E0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
F0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

[BeeCeeBee]

Have you checked your page file settings? Page file controls how the memory that you have added is used. To find your settings right click on My Computer then Properties > Advanced > Performance > Advanced > Virtual Memory. Your page file settings should be 1.5 times your RAM as the initial setting and twice that for the maximum.

[Dalo Harkin]

Well my initial response to this was that the RAM must be different speeds and when you do that they ALWAYS run at the lower speed (all of them)
But yours are all the same speed so its not that - as you have more than 2 sticks of RAM in you are better off checking the manufacturers website as you will probably need to increase the Volts and maybe the refresh rate

[muggles]

Have you checked your page file settings? Page file controls how the memory that you have added is used. To find your settings right click on My Computer then Properties > Advanced > Performance > Advanced > Virtual Memory. Your page file settings should be 1.5 times your RAM as the initial setting and twice that for the maximum.


Thanks, I can't actually do that as my PC won't allow me to set my paging file maximum to more than 4096MB, but I've set it to that and set the Initial to 3500. I'll see if it helps and post back

[Jelly Bean]

You bought PC 2700 RAM which is a slower speed RAM..

The data transfer rate would not be greatly noticed.

You should of gone for the MAX 3200 that may of made a little diffrence.

Your running at 2700 speed wich realy is rather slow.

However you should of at least noticed your computer runs smoother with the extra RAM.