Performance tests and monitoring

For DDR5, evaluate bandwidth, latency, cache effects and performance in real workloads. Check stability using the method in Chapter 7.

A comparison is meaningful only within the same program and version, with identical CPU/Ring frequencies, Windows background load, cooling, and operating-system security-feature state.

FOUR DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESULTS

THREE LEVELS OF RESULT VALIDATION

RULE FOR THIS CHAPTER

Change one profile, keep the environment identical, and do not cherry-pick the best run. Do not count a difference smaller than the natural run-to-run variation as an improvement.

AIDA64 Cache & Memory Benchmark is a quick synthetic test for comparing profiles on the same system. According to the developer’s published description, Read/Write use a 64 MB block, while Copy transfers 32 MB and counts traffic in both directions. Latency uses random addresses within blocks.

HOW CACHE & MEMORY BENCHMARK WORKS

USEFUL TESTS FROM THE GENERAL BENCHMARK SECTION

Hardware Prefetcher on ASUS Z790 controls the MLC Streamer: it detects sequential accesses and fetches upcoming data into L2 ahead of demand. It is separate from Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch; the effect depends on the workload.

CPU-Z records the system configuration: CPU and motherboard models, BIOS version, actual memory clock, active primary timings and each module's SPD contents.

MY CPU-Z TABS: WHAT TO SAVE WITH THE RESULT

1. CPU 2. MAINBOARD 3. MEMORY 4. SPD / SLOT 1

5. SPD / SLOT 2 6. BENCH 7. ABOUT

WHERE TO LOOK FIRST

HWiNFO is my primary and, in my view, the best monitoring tool. It simultaneously shows module temperatures, actual* voltages, CPU/Ring frequencies, throttling, and WHEA counters.

* The readings are estimates: PMIC telemetry may be inaccurate. Actual voltage and ripple are checked with an oscilloscope.

MINIMUM SENSOR SET

MY WORKING SENSORS SCREEN

In addition to the basic Memory Timings section in Sensors, HWiNFO can open a separate ‘Memory Timings’ window with an expanded set of active memory parameters. This is convenient for checking the values actually applied after memory training, including AUTO settings calculated by the platform.

In Sensors-only mode, the window is available from the context menu of the HWiNFO notification-area icon.

WHAT THE SEPARATE WINDOW ADDS

Additional secondary, tertiary, and turnaround timings: tFAW, tRRD_S/L, tWTR_S/L, tRDPRE, tRDPDEN, tWRPRE, tWRPDEN, tRDRD/tRDWR/tWRRD/tWRWR sg/dg, and others; plus some internal parameters, including RTL. The available fields depend on the platform and HWiNFO version.

HWiNFO: advanced memory timings and SPD write-protection status

ASRock Timing Configurator 4.1.7 is a convenient utility for viewing active primary, secondary, and tertiary timings directly in Windows. It provides a compact record of settings, including on compatible ASUS motherboards.

MY DDR5-8200 PROFILE ON Z790 APEX ENCORE

WTR calculations depend on the utility version; DDR4/DDR5 formulas and corrections are compared in 3.7.

pyhwinfo 0.8 dev is a low-level diagnostic utility for DDR5 overclocking. It reads applied memory and IMC parameters that ordinary monitoring shows only partially or not at all.

WHAT IT LETS YOU CHECK

MCLK / UCLK / BCLK (interface fields), memory data rate, and Gear Mode; primary / secondary / tertiary timings by channel and MC0/MC1; RTL; ODT (Wr, Park, ParkDqs, NomRd, NomWr, and others); Vref; SA VID, VDDQ TX, AC_LL / DC_LL; DIMM, SPD / PMIC, and available module voltages and temperatures.

After Memory Training, it lets you compare BIOS settings with the values actually applied. Checking AUTO, tertiary/turnaround timings, RTL, ODT, and Vref is especially useful because the platform calculates them during training.

pyhwinfo: low-level DDR5 and memory-controller parameters

Screenshot shows v0.5 (dev): MC/PCH Settings section; separate Vref and AC_LL/DC_LL values are not shown here.

ASUS MemTweakIt shows more internal parameters than the compact ATC. On my Z790 Apex Encore, four tabs collect the primary, secondary, and tertiary timings, refresh behavior, scheduler, and RTL. In this manual, I use it to capture a detailed record of settings.

FOUR PAGES OF ONE DDR5-8200 CONFIGURATION

TIMINGS #1 / PRIMARY TIMINGS #2 / REFRESH

TIMINGS #3 / SCHEDULER TIMINGS #4 / RTL

WR calculations depend on the MemTweakIt version; the old and DDR5 formulas are compared in 3.7.

AIDA64 is usefully supplemented with one independent synthetic test and one real-world test. Results from different programs cannot be converted into one another: each uses its own working set and algorithm.