Hi guys,
I'm going crazy to try to understand the strange beahaviour the PowerBook 5,8 has in memory modules handling.

I have 2 PC2-4200 modules fitted. 4200 modules should be the 533Mhz ones, but in system profiler I read just "444".
The still more strange think is that on the powerbook user's manual I can read "Note: Your computer processes data at the speed of 333 MHz."

You can find it here at page 57:
http://homepage.mac.com/micahgartman/web/sahnapiranha/ug/ug_pbg4_15_167_dlsd.pdf


In a friend of mine's Powerbook the behaviour is still more strange. He has a PC2-4200 module and a PC2-5300. This last one has seen as a PC2-3200!

SODIMM0/J20STANDARD:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200S-444
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown


SODIMM1/J23REVERSED:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200S-444
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown
These are two new in first 5,8

SODIMM0/J20STANDARD:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-3200S-288
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown


SODIMM1/J23REVERSED:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200S-444
Status: OK
Manufacturer: Unknown
Part Number: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown
These are two new in second 5,8


The first two were from same source as new
The second two were from different sources also new same manufacturer but not the same batch?



[ Edited by osco 10.01.2012 - 07:56 ]

@osco
it' the same I got, but probably you did not understood my question..

I think there are faster chips but are seen at the slower speed. I think this is an apple and orange thing? CPU is one speed and the memory another speed. Just guessing

The problem is that 4200 should be 533Mhz not 444!
If the powerbok goes at 444 it should call the module differently, not 4200.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2_SDRAM


And the most strange thing is that the user manual says the PB can go faster than 333Mhz (so neither 444!), so I am totally confused.

[ Edited by Miky060 10.01.2012 - 15:38 ]

@Miky060

The 444 (or 288*) refers to the latency of the installed memory, not the frequency.

*@Osco - 288? that's some crappy memory!

The system bus of the Powerbook is 166MHz, and whilst I can't find any definitive answers yet (Mac owner's aren't very inquisitive about their hardware are they?) suspect that regardless of the rated speed, the PC2-4200 will operate at 333MHz (ie twice the bus speed). It may be that the recommendation to use underclocked RAM will help ensure correct operation since Apple hardware is pretty picky when it comes to memory, anecdotally.

[ Edited by boot_wb 10.01.2012 - 16:59 ]

@Miky060

Quote:

The user manual (for the DLSD model) states:

Quote:

None of which states that the Powerbook [memory] can go faster than 333MHz. It's just 533MHz memory running underclocked at 333MHz.

Crappy memory but will it slow down the system?

@Osco

It will be interesting to do some memory benchmarking with M9677 (DDR) vs M9969 (DDR2) to see if the increased memory bandwidth of the DDR2 compensates for its increased latency compared to DDR.

I have two powerbooks read to race! We will pound your (5,6)

Bring it, bitch!

1. Cold Boot (Unfair):
0:10

2. "No BIOS" (freezing computer before starting OS, then starting OS at the same time) (fair):
1:48

3. Log in:
4:03

4. Log out:
4:54

5. Restart:
5:47

6. Shutdown:
8:08

7. Conclusion:
9:07

Hi Osco, what utility are you using for the tests?

Just so I can get a valid comparison...

Rich

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/15837/rember
I have never used this app

Total execution time: All tests passed! Execution time: 8 seconds

This is the total amount of time that it took to execute the selected tests. Execution time may vary from system to system, and is provided as a guide for determining how long users can expect tests to run based on the amount of memory installed on the system.

Testing start time: 2012-01-10 16:25:56 -0500

Testing end time: 2012-01-10 16:26:04 -0500

Bring it on

Memtest version 4.22 (32-bit)
Copyright (C) 2004 Charles Cazabon
Copyright (C) 2004-2008 Tony Scaminaci (Macintosh port)
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 only

Mac OS X 10.5.8 (9L31a) running in multiuser mode
Memory Page Size: 4096
System has 1 PPC processors(s) with Altivec
Requested memory: 100MB (104857600 bytes)
Available memory: 1341MB (1406771200 bytes)
Allocated memory: 100MB (104857600 bytes) at local address 0x01000000
Attempting memory lock... locked successfully
Partitioning memory into 2 comparison buffers...
Buffer A: 50MB (52428800 bytes) starts at local address 0x01000000
Buffer B: 50MB (52428800 bytes) starts at local address 0x04200000

Running 1 test sequence... (CTRL-C to quit)

Test sequence 1 of 1:

Running tests on full 100MB region...
Stuck Address : ok
Linear PRN : ok
Running comparison tests using 50MB buffers...
Random Value :  ok
Compare XOR :  ok
Compare SUB :  ok
Compare MUL :  ok
Compare DIV :  ok
Compare OR :  ok
Compare AND :  ok
Sequential Increment:  ok
Solid Bits : ok
Block Sequential : ok
Checkerboard : ok
Bit Spread : ok
Bit Flip : ok
Walking Ones :  ok
Walking Zeroes : setting 1 of 64testing 1 of 64setting 2 of 64testing 2 of 64setting 3 of 64testing 3 of 64setting 4 of 64testing 4 of 64setting 5 of 64testing 5 of 64setting 6 of 6463 of 64testing 63 of 64setting 64 of 64testing 64 of 64 ok

All tests passed! Execution time: 621 seconds.

Memtest version 4.22 (32-bit)
Copyright (C) 2004 Charles Cazabon
Copyright (C) 2004-2008 Tony Scaminaci (Macintosh port)
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 only

Mac OS X 10.5.8 (9L31a) running in multiuser mode
Memory Page Size: 4096
System has 1 PPC processors(s) with Altivec
Requested memory: 100MB (104857600 bytes)
Available memory: 422MB (443346944 bytes)
Allocated memory: 100MB (104857600 bytes) at local address 0x01000000
Attempting memory lock... locked successfully
Partitioning memory into 2 comparison buffers...
Buffer A: 50MB (52428800 bytes) starts at local address 0x01000000
Buffer B: 50MB (52428800 bytes) starts at local address 0x04200000

Running 1 test sequence... (CTRL-C to quit)

Test sequence 1 of 1:

Running tests on full 100MB region...
Stuck Address : ok
Linear PRN : ok
Running comparison tests using 50MB buffers...
Random Value : ok
Compare XOR : ok
Compare SUB : ok
Compare MUL : ok
Compare DIV : ok
Compare OR : ok
Compare AND : ok
Sequential Increment: ok
Solid Bits : ok
Block Sequential : ok
Checkerboard : ok
Bit Spread : ok
Bit Flip : ok
Walking Ones : ok
Walking Zeroes : ok

All tests passed! Execution time: 505 seconds.


(Running with verbose logging took 531 seconds.)

Not that this is a suitable test for comparison really, but interesting!

Memtest version 4.22 (32-bit)
Copyright (C) 2004 Charles Cazabon
Copyright (C) 2004-2008 Tony Scaminaci (Macintosh port)
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 only

Mac OS X 10.5.8 (9L31a) running in multiuser mode
Memory Page Size: 4096
System has 1 PPC processors(s) with Altivec
Requested memory: 100MB (104857600 bytes)
Available memory: 1552MB (1628319744 bytes)
Allocated memory: 100MB (104857600 bytes) at local address 0x01000000
Attempting memory lock... locked successfully
Partitioning memory into 2 comparison buffers...
Buffer A: 50MB (52428800 bytes) starts at local address 0x01000000
Buffer B: 50MB (52428800 bytes) starts at local address 0x04200000

Running 1 test sequence... (CTRL-C to quit)

Test sequence 1 of 1:

Running tests on full 100MB region...
Stuck Address : ok
Linear PRN : ok
Running comparison tests using 50MB buffers...
Random Value :  ok
Compare XOR :  ok
Compare SUB :  ok
Compare MUL :  ok
Compare DIV :  ok
Compare OR :  ok
Compare AND :  ok
Sequential Increment:  ok
Solid Bits : ok
Block Sequential : ok
Checkerboard : ok
Bit Spread : ok
Bit Flip : ok
Walking Ones : ok
Walking Zeroes : ok

All tests passed! Execution time: 648 seconds.

:-?
What was the advantage of DDR2 vs DDR? In this case it was not speed.
DDR was hundred seconds faster for the same task?

No speed improvement, probably just less power consumption.

> What was the advantage of DDR2 vs DDR?

None with a G4 processor, which can't even leverage the double data rate of DDR1-SDRAM compared to SDR-SDRAM.

Andreas_Wolf,
Quote:
Wonder why they even built the 9139 with DDR2. If there was no performance gain, it seems pointless...

[ Edited by matt3 11.01.2012 - 18:51 ]

> Wonder why they even built the 9139 with DDR2. If there was
> no performance gain, it seems pointless...

May have been due to better availability or pricing, or even just because DDR2 sounds more performant than DDR ;-)

..and because battery life becomes longer because DDR2 can give less power consumption.

A proper batterie lasts longer than 4-5 hours.

If you want to save power, use a SSD, reduce brightness of the screen and take care you recharge only when required and the battery is down.

Removing the WLan/BT Card saves power, too. Also reducing the total amount of memory. Just using one 512MB stick instead of 2 1GB should save a lot of power.

Geit

[ Edited by geit 12.01.2012 - 12:37 ]