Testing viability/quality of RAM

ab90 · 2019-01-03 17:52:08

Is there a terminal command that will give me a list of performance attributes of my RAM stick (so dimm ddr2 -> eee pc)
as for some reason i got three DDR2 RAM bars and i am curious to know if my system likes one more than the other...
They are all the same 2GB!
Right now, testing the first, conky tells me this one has 1.96G maximum.
...just for the perfectionist...

Last edited by ab90 (2019-01-03 17:52:34)

iMBeCil · 2019-01-03 18:42:47

^Plenty of information about memory banks (and even more about all your hardware) may be obtained with:

$ sudo lshw

(note the 'sudo'; without it, substantially less information are displayed.)

It might be necessary to install it beforehand: sudo apt-get install lshw.

EDIT: added 'install', as per ab90's post below.

Last edited by iMBeCil (2019-01-03 18:59:42)

ab90 · 2019-01-03 18:52:06

iMBeCil wrote:

It might be necessary to install it beforehand: sudo apt-get lshw.

Thanks! you missed an 'install' before lshw ;p

I got a lot on information now. It looks like the RAM Sticks i bought would not differ. :-/ was thinking maaayybee one might be better then the other but it just says 2gb^^

Last edited by ab90 (2019-01-03 18:55:09)

iMBeCil · 2019-01-03 18:59:24

^Indeed. Fixed. Thanks wink

BLizgreat! · 2019-01-03 21:49:09

Heya iMBeCil, hope you're doing great fellow nixer. smile

Here's one result of a quick google on the topic there.

Lots of hardware goodness including system memory. Didn't really drill down hard enough to specifically testing or profiling system RAM. It's just a quick search away for sure but it had lots of cool looking commands and utils for hardware profiling. Many people love inxi < included that cause think it has some interesting inxi commands in it.

Believe with many hardware components it's fairly well normal to not get an exact amount of usable memory/RAM space or diskspace on hard drives etc. So 2gb/ram showing as 1.96G max wouldn't concern me.

Gnu/Linux is freakin amazing, always has and always will boggle my mind. Coming up on 7yrs of much extensive use of it and many a long period of time or even unhealthy obsession and imo, I still haven't scratched the surface. Just too much but plenty of docs and search engines to fill in the blanks.

As an example just something as clear cut as current amount of memory being used on my system befuddles me. I have 3 terminals open, three different cmds/utils checking it and they all give a different number !!! Arghhhhhh. Not too worried deem free -m to be the least reliable of these and inxi and ps_mem are close enough, shrugs.

1. Using "sudo inxi -m" says Used/Total: 872.3/3497.5MB
2. Output of "free -m" says 849mbs under the used column.
3. Output of ps_mem shows 869.2mbs

Lol ... smile

Oops, like you said some of these may require you to search for and install some packages to get them working and no doubt there are a gazillion other ways in gnu/Nix or better tools I just don't know about.

Last edited by BLizgreat! (2019-01-03 21:52:13)

iMBeCil · 2019-01-03 23:25:01

^Hi BLizgreat, long time no read ... been busy with liver transplant? devil devil monkey monkey

Ah ... free memory ... there's been a lots of arguing about it. I prefer this one (FreeBSD FAQ): The simple answer is that free memory is wasted memory. Any memory that programs do not actively allocate is used within the FreeBSD kernel as disk cache. Essentially, kernel will try to use all 'unused' memory. And it makes a bit unclear what can actually be considered as free memory. Be happy you got similar numbers from three different programs ... wink

BLizgreat! · 2019-01-04 01:03:19

^ LOL. big_smile Just been dealing with life my friend. Haven't been dorking with computers very often for quite awhile but gnu/Nix bug has bitten and the opportunity has cropped up, so here I am. Dorking with gnu/Linux and hanging out with fellow nixers.

I see what they're saying and believe in ways it's true. If you don't mind the wear/tear ... battery drain etc associated with it and config your OS in a way that every drop of otherwise idle memory is used to good effect, then yeah guess that'd be a good thing. The any idle/free RAM is otherwise being wasted.

To me, that approach isn't my style though. If I can find a tweak or optimization that justifies using system resources then most likely yeah ... Would go ahead and use it but otherwise I tend to think of free RAM as RAM that's readily available for my system to be used to do something I want or like and less heat, battery drain and wear/tear on my hardware.

So personally am somewhere in between. Some kind of happy medium. Don't want system resources to be always maxed out, even if they're doing something generally considered worthwhile most the time. However if the performance boost or convenience etc is worth it, then yeah willing to devote the resources for it. Guess like most other things gnu/Linux comes down to x-persons preferences.

Not saying they're wrong necessarily but using every drop of system resources, at all times isn't my style, unless it's really worth it.

PS, Yep years later, lol ... still can't even definitively say what's the absolute most accurate way to monitor system memory in use. Tend to lean towards ps_mem cause Hoas strongly supported it and the guy tends to really know his tech. Arghhhhh ... inxi is highly thought of too right ? Oh well can't envision a situation where I need to know down to the hair how much memory is involved, shrugs. Vll! smile

Last edited by BLizgreat! (2019-01-04 01:09:50)

S7.L · 2019-01-04 03:31:40

So inxi dumps info for memory with the help of dmidecode, both give rather different readouts. Having read a little bit of the man on inxi -m it says that dmidecode is extremely unreliable, Interesting.

So...

~ >>> sudo inxi -m                                                            [2]
Memory:
  RAM: total: 3.78 GiB used: 1.01 GiB (26.6%) 
  Array-1: capacity: 8 GiB slots: 2 EC: None 
  Device-1: DIMM0 size: 2 GiB speed: 1067 MT/s 
  Device-2: DIMM2 size: 2 GiB speed: 1067 MT/s

Now dmidecode...

~ >>> sudo dmidecode -t memory                                                   
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.6 present.

Handle 0x0010, DMI type 16, 15 bytes
Physical Memory Array
        Location: System Board Or Motherboard
        Use: System Memory
        Error Correction Type: None
        Maximum Capacity: 8 GB
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Number Of Devices: 2

Handle 0x0011, DMI type 6, 12 bytes
Memory Module Information
        Socket Designation: DIMM0
        Bank Connections: 0 0
        Current Speed: Unknown
        Type: DIMM
        Installed Size: 2048 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Enabled Size: 2048 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Error Status: OK

Handle 0x0012, DMI type 17, 28 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0010
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 2048 MB
        Form Factor: SODIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: DIMM0
        Bank Locator: BANK 0
        Type: DDR3
        Type Detail: Synchronous
        Speed: 1067 MT/s
        Manufacturer: Kinston
        Serial Number: B335840C
        Asset Tag: Unknown
        Part Number: TSB1066D3S7DR8/2G 
        Rank: Unknown

Handle 0x0014, DMI type 6, 12 bytes
Memory Module Information
        Socket Designation: DIMM2
        Bank Connections: 0 0
        Current Speed: Unknown
        Type: DIMM
        Installed Size: 2048 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Enabled Size: 2048 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Error Status: OK

Handle 0x0015, DMI type 17, 28 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0010
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 2048 MB
        Form Factor: SODIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: DIMM2
        Bank Locator: BANK 2
        Type: DDR3
        Type Detail: Synchronous
        Speed: 1067 MT/s
        Manufacturer: Kinston
        Serial Number: B535800C
        Asset Tag: Unknown
        Part Number: TSB1066D3S7DR8/2G 
        Rank: Unknown

man inxi -m

       -m, --memory
              Memory  (RAM)  data.  Does not display with  -b or  -F unless you
              use -m explicitly. Ordered by system board physical system memory
              array(s)   (Array-[number]),   and   individual   memory  devices
              (Device-[number]). Physical memory array  data shows array capac‐
              ity,  number  of devices supported, and Error Correction informa‐
              tion. Devices shows locator data  (highly  variable  in  syntax),
              size, speed, type (eg: type: DDR3).

              Note  that -m uses dmidecode, which must be run as root (or start
              inxi with sudo), unless you figure out how to set up sudo to per‐
              mit  dmidecode to read /dev/mem as user. Note that speed will not
              show if No Module Installed is found in size. This will also turn
              off Bus Width data output if it is null.

              If  memory  information  was found, and if the -I line or the -tm
              item have not been triggered, will also print the RAM used/total.

              Because dmidecode data is extremely unreliable, inxi will try  to
              make best guesses.  If you see (check) after the capacity number,
              you should check it with the specifications.  (est)  is  slightly
              more reliable, but you should still check the real specifications
              before buying RAM. Unfortunately there is nothing inxi can do  to
              get  truly  reliable data about the system RAM; maybe one day the
              kernel devs will put this data into /sys, and make it real  data,
              taken  from the actual system, not dmi data. For most people, the
              data will be right, but a significant percentage  of  users  will
              have either a wrong max module size, if present, or max capacity.

man dimdecode (-t memory)

        -t, --type TYPE
              Only  display  the entries of type TYPE. TYPE can be either a DMI
              type number, or a comma-separated list of type numbers, or a key‐
              word  from  the following list: bios, system, baseboard, chassis,
              processor, memory, cache, connector, slot. Refer to the DMI TYPES
              section  below  for  details.   If  this option is used more than
              once, the set of displayed entries will be the union of  all  the
              given types.  If TYPE is not provided or not valid, a list of all
              valid keywords is printed and dmidecode exits with an error.

Last edited by S7.L (2019-01-04 03:32:55)

BLizgreat! · 2019-01-04 05:52:27

^ Thanks ... didn't know the dmidecode angle on this. Always something to learn with gnu/Linux. More like 40 gazillion something's. big_smile Crap ... I give up. Just going to have to figure out a way to get up enough cash to hire Hoas and the BL team to setup and do anything technical I need done. Arghhhh.

Vll! tongue

#1 2019-01-03 17:52:08

Testing viability/quality of RAM

#2 2019-01-03 18:42:47

Re: Testing viability/quality of RAM

#3 2019-01-03 18:52:06

Re: Testing viability/quality of RAM

#4 2019-01-03 18:59:24

Re: Testing viability/quality of RAM

#5 2019-01-03 21:49:09

Re: Testing viability/quality of RAM

#6 2019-01-03 23:25:01

Re: Testing viability/quality of RAM

#7 2019-01-04 01:03:19

Re: Testing viability/quality of RAM

#8 2019-01-04 03:31:40

Re: Testing viability/quality of RAM

#9 2019-01-04 05:52:27

Re: Testing viability/quality of RAM

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