OK I finally got my brand new P25-607 today.
What a thing of beauty it is.
Man this thing is spectacular to look at.
Anyway I've ordered my 2 X 512MB PC3200 SODIMM sticks of RAM and so
I'm starting this new thread so as to keep it simple and easy to see the
differences, if any, between running PC2100 and PC3200 RAM.
I could only find KINGMAX RAM in this size and am a little sceptical
about claims elsewhere on this forum about 'other' manufacturers offering
this ram in 1GB sticks of PC3200. Anyway don't anybody get there nose out
of joint over these doubts of mine, but in my defense none of the 'big'
manufacturers even mention 512MBs in PC3200 let alone 1GB.
Another test I'll be doing after this is upgrading the CPU to 3.2GHz
I spoke to a local supplier and he said he'd do a trade with my 2.8GHz
but first thing I'm going to do is change the RAM.
Also I loaded Photoshop7 on and it loads in 20 seconds not 30 like someone claimed
which is slower than my desktop at 7 seconds P4 3.06GHz 533FSB
WD80GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache.

System Configuration
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP
DirectX Version 8.1
Mobo Manufacturer TOSHIBA
Mobo Model BTQ00
AGP Rates (Current/Available) 2x / 4x 8x
CPU Intel Pentium 4 2730 MHz
FSB 0 MHz
Memory 510 MB
Graphics Chipset Generic VGA
Driver Name NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200
Driver Version 6.14.10.4422
Video Memory 64 MB

Detailed Test Results
CPU Score 6757
Memory Score 6617
HDD Score 598

CPU Tests
Jpeg Decoding 20.4 MPixels/s
Zlib Compression 8.5 MB/s
Zlib Decompression 107.1 MB/s
Text Search 359.1 KRounds/s
Audio Conversion 116.6 KB/s
3D Vector Calculation 69.0 FPS

Memory Tests
Raw Block Read - 3072KB 2311.6 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 1536KB 2309.0 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 384KB 10685.0 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 48KB 11280.8 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 6KB 20705.4 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 3072KB 1051.6 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 1536KB 1057.0 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 384KB 9024.6 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 48KB 9386.7 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 6KB 9251.2 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 3072KB 1078.7 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 1536KB 1074.0 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 384KB 6232.3 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 48KB 6388.8 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 6KB 8783.7 MB/s
Random Access - 24576 (1536KB) items 1988.7 MB/s
Random Access - 12288 (768KB) items 1990.9 MB/s
Random Access - 6144 (384KB) items 4753.1 MB/s
Random Access - 1536 (96KB) items 7252.5 MB/s
Random Access - 768 (48KB) items 7195.7 MB/s
Random Access - 96 (6KB) items 10166.9 MB/s
Video - 1 line 1358.4 FPS
Video - 4 lines 1313.6 FPS
Video - 16 lines 1208.3 FPS
Video - 32 lines 1040.8 FPS

Hard Disk Tests
Cached File Write 17.6 MB/s
Uncached File Write 13.2 MB/s
Cached File Read 23.7 MB/s
Uncached File Read 26.9 MB/s
File Copy 6.7 MB/s

Crunch Tests
Jpeg Decoding 15.3 MPixels/s
Raw Block Modify - 3072KB 868.0 MB/s
Blit Test 933.2 FPS
Memory 510 MB

I should get my RAM in about a week so I'll post the results of my
tests then. And shortly after I'll do the 3.2GHz upgrade and post
those results.

Steve

I have been sitting/thinking about this upgrade that you are doing so thanks in advance. Along with the memory upgrade, I am considering the hitachi 7200 harddrive.

Guessing that the hard drive upgrade would make your 607 able to close the gap on loading photoshop.

Not yet convinced that cpu upgrade will get a whole lot (3.2 vs 2.8) but after tradein/whatever what's the difference in cost to you?

John

The cpu upgrade will set me back US$190 or $240 Aussie dollars.
I am having second thoughts though because first of all the
increased heat dissipation may cause the fans to work harder and
make more noise and secondly the performance increase will be
minimal. Also I would have to use the same heatsink and I'm
wondering if it can handle the extra heat in an efficient manner.
The main reason I would like to have the 3.2GHz CPU is that here
in Australia our top of the range P25 ( it's a P20 here) has a 3.2 in it.
It sells for A$5500 and I would effectively have that with PC3200
RAM for $3500 because mine was an import from the US.
I think the hard drive upgrade is unjustifiable because if you
look at the difference between the Hitachi 7200 HDD score of 693
and my 5400 HDD score of 598 it makes me wonder how much faster
that would be. My desktop WD 7200 8MB score was 1191.
I would estimate that the hitachi was about 20-25% faster at loading.
Having said that I would like one.

Steve

I got the RAM today and I put it in and started and restarted
the OS a couple of times to let it settle in and here's what I got.

System Configuration
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP
DirectX Version 8.1
Mobo Manufacturer TOSHIBA
Mobo Model BTQ00
AGP Rates (Current/Available) 2x / 4x 8x
CPU Intel Pentium 4 2730 MHz
FSB 0 MHz
Memory 1022 MB
Graphics Chipset Generic VGA
Driver Name NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200
Driver Version 6.14.10.4422
Video Memory 64 MB

Detailed Test Results
CPU Score 6874
Memory Score 7973
HDD Score 633

CPU Tests
Jpeg Decoding 20.7 MPixels/s
Zlib Compression 8.4 MB/s
Zlib Decompression 111.3 MB/s
Text Search 367.2 KRounds/s
Audio Conversion 119.4 KB/s
3D Vector Calculation 69.4 FPS

Memory Tests
Raw Block Read - 3072KB 2484.6 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 1536KB 2593.7 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 384KB 10892.8 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 48KB 11297.7 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 6KB 20755.3 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 3072KB 1624.6 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 1536KB 1379.7 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 384KB 9184.7 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 48KB 9390.0 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 6KB 9227.7 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 3072KB 1644.3 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 1536KB 1352.4 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 384KB 7259.3 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 48KB 7413.5 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 6KB 8841.3 MB/s
Random Access - 24576 (1536KB) items 2291.2 MB/s
Random Access - 12288 (768KB) items 2293.9 MB/s
Random Access - 6144 (384KB) items 6797.2 MB/s
Random Access - 1536 (96KB) items 7390.7 MB/s
Random Access - 768 (48KB) items 7281.2 MB/s
Random Access - 96 (6KB) items 10178.2 MB/s
Video - 1 line 1267.3 FPS
Video - 4 lines 1352.5 FPS
Video - 16 lines 1245.4 FPS
Video - 32 lines 1071.5 FPS

Hard Disk Tests
Cached File Write 17.9 MB/s
Uncached File Write 14.1 MB/s
Cached File Read 27.6 MB/s
Uncached File Read 28.6 MB/s
File Copy 6.1 MB/s

Crunch Tests
Jpeg Decoding 16.6 MPixels/s
Raw Block Modify - 3072KB 1279.6 MB/s
Blit Test 1117.5 FPS

Well that's definitely an improvement!

Steve

If you look at the raw block write or modify for the largest size ( much bigger than the level 2 cache) it looks to me as if your system memory is responding approx 400/266 faster.

What else do we need to prove that this system works at the full speed of the memory?

Nothing in my book ... thanks for the update.

What memory exactly did you purchase and from where? Sorry if its in your previous postings.

John

The memory was Kingmax or KTI as it was branded.
They have Kingmax at the moment but I would make a point of
stipulating that you want the Kingmax, as I did, otherwise
you might get something else (ie. crap RAM).
Here's the page it's on...

http://www.4allmemory.com/index.cfm?...emory_notebook

Steve

Aaah... That's excellent. You are definitely getting faster memory performance. Thank you for posting your results.

Time to check RAM prices again.

Regards