Upgraded from 8GB to 12GB but WIE has now decreased from 7.4 to 7.1!

Hi all, I am wondering if anyone can help me find out what's going on here?

I just upgraded a Sony VAIO VPCSB1S9E to 12GB RAM as it previously had 8GB. The laptop already has 4GB soldered to the motherboard and only has one extra memory slot. The previous memory was made by 'Hynix' and was 4GB 12800S, the new module is made by 'Samsung' and is 8GB 12800S.

Please can anyone tell me why the WIE rating has decreased and not increased like it should have?

Hi there, that link is wrong. The laptop has only 1 memory slot and the maximum memory for them is 12GB according to Sony...

WEI doesn't change one iota from RAM size. It only measures performance or speed ('cycle count'), and which has nothing to do with size. In other words, two identical RAM kits (clock speed, CAS and so forth) but where size alone is different will almost always have the same WEI.

I would have to suspect in this case that one kit has a higher CAS and the other has a lower CAS. Unless of course, both of your kits aren't 10800S (=1600MHz 'clock speed'). In any case, both factors can and will affect WEI for RAM; but not size. Just because you double your RAM does not mean it will perform any faster (not at all, in fact).

That said, this really doesn't matter too much. You didn't lower the speed significantly enough for it to be a real-world detractor in performance. That is to say, you personally won't be able to physically tell the difference in 'wait times' (we are, after all, talking a difference of mere milliseconds). Only in benchmarking will those extra few milliseconds ever really be noticed by you in reality.

1. Does the extra (new) ram show in Windows?
2. Was the original ram DDR2 or DDR3?

While bigger size ram would (generally) result in higher latency, I think the bigger problem here would be the mismatch in module sizes (4gb with 8gb) and probably ddr2 with ddr3. Can you post the actual ram model numbers?

DDR2 will not fit into DDR3 and I don't think you can get 12800S in DDR2 as far as I'm aware.

The memory is recognised by the laptop, I had another model which has the 2.40GHz i5-2430M processor before which definitely said it was 12GB maximum, this laptop has the i5-2410M inside.