Low memory performace - AMD opteron

Discussion in 'Processors and motherboards AMD' started by TommyNL, Nov 27, 2010.

  1. TommyNL

    TommyNL Member

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    Hey,

    I've been working on a new system and i got very low gpu performace(way lower than it should be). so i was looking for a bottleneck in my PC and i came across this:
    [​IMG]

    The read/write speed should be twice as high and my latency 3 times lower. But somehow this isn't the case.
    Also, as you can see, cpu-z can't give me any SPD info (i tried every slot).

    my system:
    2x AMD opteron 8347HE (1.9Ghz)
    supermicro H8M8-2+
    2x 4GB PC5300 CL5 (one dimm per cpu)

    it looks like the timings are alright and i've switched off ECC (on or off didn't really matter).

    Anyone any good suggestions?
     
  2. Solinari

    Solinari Guest

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    It appears you are running it in Single Channel, you will have to move one of the modules in to the correct slot, consult the motherboard manual for the correct instructions.

    The slots are usually colour coded, one is each of the blue or the black slots for example.
     
  3. CoreyPL

    CoreyPL Guest

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    He can't use dual channel - he's got 2 sticks of memory and he uses 1 for each processor (it's a server motherboard and it is mandatory for every of the processor to have RAM installed), so unless he buys another 2x4GB so he can have 2x4GB for every processor, he won't have dual channel.
     
  4. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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    Well, is CnQ on? It seems like your Opteron is Barcelona which is Phenom I.

    Clock for clock, Phenom I sucked lol. Also, your memory latency is off the charts 202.5ns?!?! wtf?

    Here's my Everest benchmark:
    [​IMG]

    deltatux
     

  5. TommyNL

    TommyNL Member

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    indeed, so i have to buy another set of 2x4GB of ram(here goes another 100 euro). Hopefully this will speed things up a lot(i think it's also the bottleneck in games).

    but if dual channel will give me decent speed. what will fix the big latency? if i use the test from sisoft sandra the latency is 500ns to 700ns.
     
  6. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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    iirc, ECC causes more latency ... do you have to have ECC? Is this rig used as a server or just a gaming rig. If it's the latter then, you don't need ECC. ECC is all about data accuracy and for a desktop system, ECC is really not needed.

    deltatux
     
  7. CoreyPL

    CoreyPL Guest

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    Dual Channel will give you small boost in games, but I'm not so sure if its worth buying another 8 Gigs of RAM.

    Gaming on a server platform is usually not so good idea, because those systems are build for stability and reliability rather than speed. And they usually won't allow for advanced settings control for CPU and RAM (frequencies, timings, buses etc.) That is why much cheaper desktop machine can perform a lot better in games.

    EDIT:
    Your CPU is only 1.9GHz - I think this is your biggest bottleneck, since games benefit more from higher core frequency than number of cores, while server apps are very multi-core friendly and can use all of the cores available.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2010
  8. TommyNL

    TommyNL Member

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    GPU:
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    I use this rig for gaming and i had ECC off when i did the benchmarks.

    i just put ECC on again and the results aren't much different.
    Read 3048MB/s
    write 2630MB/s
    copy 30009MB/s
    Latency 199.3ns

    just one thing, in the screenshot i uploaded(first post) it does say dual channel.
    The cpu's do have a HT link to each other so it might be possible to put 2 dimms for 1 cpu and let the other cpu memory from the other but i doubt this will do any good for the latency.

    Dual channel does improve performance if you use one or 2 dimms because it can use an extra channel and difference between 300MB/s or 6000MB/s is a good improvement. If you have 2 different dimms that don't run in dual channel mode but do use both channel than you still get a performance boost instead of using only one channel.

    I came across this problem when i tried to find out why my games are running slower than it should. I monitored the cpu usage and it never got stuck @100%
    http://toastedatoms.com/Data/Images/gpu-css.png
    http://toastedatoms.com/Data/Images/gpu-ut3.png

    As you can see the cpu usage isn't 100%, the gpu-usage doesn't go beyond 30%. But my FPS is under 30. And i think something limits the system.
    I have a HD3870X2 (it was rather cheap and it was a funny addition to my system because i have multiprocessors, i could but multi gpu card).
    But this discussion is for another next topic.

    I got this mobo+cpu+8GB ram for 250 euro (mobo new from store, cpu + mem ebay). That's why i bought it.
     
  9. CoreyPL

    CoreyPL Guest

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    Yeah, dual channel will have gains in benchmarks and mem-heavy apps, but it will not have that much impact on games. You will gain some FPS, but not that much.

    Another thing is why only 30% of GPU usage? Your CPU usage is ~60-80% and sometimes going near 100%. That would suggest CPU bottleneck. Most of the games can't use multicores/multiprocessors very well - they usually end up using 1, max 2 cores. New games improve this situation a little, but programmers still must learn how to code for multicores efficiently.

    So despite having 2 processors and 8 cores, you are only using 1 or 2 cores @ 1.9GHz. This is your biggest bottleneck. High clocked Phenoms II or Intel CPUs should perform much better with your card, even having less cores.

    To test that theory take your card to a friend's PC that have ~3GHz dual or quad core CPU and test the FPS you are getting.

    Adding memory for a dual channel setup won't help for low core frequency.
     
  10. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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    Does it sit at 25-50%? If so, that means the game isn't using more than 2 of your cores.

    Is it possible to overclock those two Opterons?

    deltatux
     

  11. Sever

    Sever Ancient Guru

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    hmm, i think the frequency of his cpu would be the culprit. at 1.9ghz, its fairly low. even at 4ghz, cod black ops stresses all my cores at around 50-60%.

    btw, @OP - have you tried amd overdrive? its not that great of an overclocking program anymore, but it does let you monitor a lot more things on an amd setup.
     
  12. TommyNL

    TommyNL Member

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    I just tried putting both dimms in dual channel mode in one cpu but it still says single channel mode (and i put the dimms in the right position).

    EDIT: nope i did it wrong, so i fixed that
    [​IMG]
    http://toastedatoms.com/Data/Images/memtest3.png
    http://toastedatoms.com/Data/Images/memtest4.png

    And the lateny was a 200ns again, this should not be this high!
    After putting the 2 dimms in the other cpu the latency was 263ns

    AMD overdrive only works with the latest chipsets and not with this chipset(there aren't any drivers for this northbridge for windows 7).

    Beside, is you look at the screenshot of rivatuner you can see that the cpu isn't fully used. I use the rivatuner OSD and even when there is a very intense scene(with 10 bots on the screen) the core load is about 60/70% but my fps is more like 5. I first tried this with 32 bots in css and this gave me 3fps. so instead i used another dedicated server that handled the bots and i still got 3fps so with a lot less load in the cpu i still get the same gpu performance. And all because the gpu-usage doesn't go higher than 30/40%.
    A 1.9Ghz quad core (and the source engine uses multiple cores) should easily handle 32 bots. i could do this with a way slower system without any problems. (to badly i don't have one lying around to test it out).

    I think a reinstall of windows might do some good because after installing other/newer drivers directX is messed up.

    But this doesn't change the real problem:
    - low speed (dual channel didn't fix it)
    - big latency
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2010
  13. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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  14. TommyNL

    TommyNL Member

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    GPU:
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    I have a AMD opteron, my motherboard can only use DDR2 800/667/533MHz buffered (registered) ECC SDRAM.
    Those fancy colored ram sticks aren't ECC nor buffered/registered.

    I tried putting my ram in another normal AMD system.
    A normal AMD system does support ECC but it doesn't support registered RAM.
    So i couldn't test my ram nor did normal ram work with my system.

    I have 2x 4GB PC2-5300P 667mhz CL5 ram sticks, there isn't more details available.
    (sticker on ram says: SG07000748-060 75102537 MIS026736 4GB DDR2-667 GooMM4A A 48000007 01)
    I googled it but i couldn't find any other info. I googled the ram chips but that didn't help either.

    If i were to buy more ram i would buy these from ebay: Kingston 2x 4GB PC6400 CL5
     
  15. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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    Do you really need buffered ECC RAM? Those things are useless unless you have server workloads.

    deltatux
     

  16. TommyNL

    TommyNL Member

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    GPU:
    ATI HD3870X2 1GB
    http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron8000/MCP55/H8QM8-2_.cfm

    Memory Capacity
    Sixteen 240-pin DIMM sockets
    Supports up to 128 GB DDR2 800/667/533 MHz memory
    Single or Dual (recommended) channel memory support
    For Quad CPUs: Recommended that memory be populated equally in adjacent memory banks
    Memory Type
    DDR2 800/667/533MHz buffered (registered) ECC SDRAM 72-bit, 240-pin gold-plated DIMMs
    DIMM Sizes
    256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB
    Memory Voltage
    1.8V only
    Error Detection
    Corrects single-bit errors
    Detects double-bit errors (using ECC memory)

    Don't be surprised, Registered(buffered) ECC ram is normal for servers/workstations (don't confuse with fully buffered that is different and way more expensive).
    And there not useless because i have a server motherboard. I know this system isn't the best gaming rig but i got this motherboard for 65 euro instead of 560 euro.
    I couldn't resist and the idea that i could have a 16core monster is funny(but totally overkill and rather useless).

    Edit:
    There is a way of testing other ram without spending money.
    I could buy ram from an online store and than you may return the object within 7 days without reason. So i could order new memory and send it back and I'll get my money back..
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2010
  17. deltatux

    deltatux Guest

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    Ya you can try that but the board still accepts regular non-ECC, non-buffered memory. So if it's causing high latency then it's not worth it, esp. if your main prerogative is gaming and not server workloads.

    deltatux
     
  18. TommyNL

    TommyNL Member

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    I tried using normal non-ECC/non-buffered ram but it wouldn't boot(it was normal kingston value ram).

    I was looking through the memory compatible list and i saw the memory chips used on my ram.
    chip #of Rank
    7DE12 D9HMW 2
    7DE17 D9HNL 4

    One of my dimms had 4 ranks and the other dimm has 2. Ranks are a way to divide the ram(i think),I don't know what this might actually do performance wise.
    Could this be a reason why it doesn't work as fast?

    I'm starting to guess things because buying other ram is more of a last resort.
     
  19. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Try using ganged mode

    Did you disable ECC mode in the BIOS first?
     
  20. TommyNL

    TommyNL Member

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    yes i did, no it didn't help.
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2010

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