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Mid-2010 Macbook Pro 7,1 16GB Ram, 1TB SSD Upgrade - Benchmark Test Scores Lower After Upgrades

R

RtrnOfDaMac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 14, 2020
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I'm a MacRumors Newbie so thanks for taking a look!


I have a Mid-2010 Macbook Pro 7,1 that I previously upgraded from 4GB to 8GB of RAM years ago. Recently I upgraded to a Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB , Timetec Hynix IC 16GB KIT(2x8GB) DDR3 1067MHz / 1066MHz PC3-8500 RAM, as well as removed my optical drive and installed a Data Doubler using the stock 250GB HDD.

I used Geekbench, Cinebench, and Blackmagic to get a baseline of the machine before the upgrades. It tested slightly above avg for a Mid-2010 MBP.

While the machine seems to boot up faster, all the post-upgrade tests I ran have lower scores that the pre-upgrade benchmark tests, except the Blackmagic test scores with about tripled.

How is this possible and did I do something wrong? I have a series of test if you scroll down. Is it possible the old Intel Core 2 Duo is limiting the performance of my 16GB RAM?

Thank you all for the help!

Stock Sys Info 2.jpg

Stock Sys info SvM.jpg

System info. Then showing the system recognized the 16GB RAM upgrade

BlackMagic Test.JPG

BlackMagic Score up from 40/50

GeekBench Stock v Mod-SS.jpg

Original Geekbench score vs the 16GB Upgrade

Cinebench Stock v Mod.jpg

Original CineBench score vs upgraded

Benchmarks.jpg


My latest tests as of 8/11/20. Troubleshooting numbers. The SSD is constant. DD is 250GB HDD Data Doubler installed. No DD means it was just unplugged but in the machine. Optical means I installed the optical drive back. What is curious to me is that the 8GB RAM with the DD and Optical out performed the 16GB RAM on every test. Also, I believe my fan is louder with the 16GB installed.
 
Put the 8GB back in and run the tests again.

did you reinstall or image the drive? I wonder if spotlight was running.

Your cinebench scores shouldn’t have changed at all, so something is up.
 
robvas said:
Put the 8GB back in and run the tests again.

did you reinstall or image the drive? I wonder if spotlight was running.

Your cinebench scores shouldn’t have changed at all, so something is up.
Click to expand...

The excel screenshot shows my results after reinstalling the 8GB of RAM.

When you say reinstall or image, are you talking about the SSD? Could you speak more on spotlight?

Thanks for the reply!
 
On a fresh install of the OS, spotlight will run for a short amount of time, indexing your files

if you ran the benchmarks right after you booted up the first few times it might cause it to slow down
 
robvas said:
On a fresh install of the OS, spotlight will run for a short amount of time, indexing your files

if you ran the benchmarks right after you booted up the first few times it might cause it to slow down
Click to expand...

Oh wow. That’s exactly what I did. Does spotlight run with each hardware change or just the SSD?

Also, I don’t think it was a fresh OS. I just formatted my SSD and then clones my HHD yo it. Would spotlight still run?
 
You should be fine. And it’s still be slow if you put the 8GB in.

Check your activity monitor and as long as it’s not at the top of the cpu usage you’re good
 
robvas said:
You should be fine. And it’s still be slow if you put the 8GB in.

Check your activity monitor and as long as it’s not at the top of the cpu usage you’re good
Click to expand...

Ya I was interested in a definitive test to see that the 16gb RAM is really being out to use over the 8GB.

Do you have any suggestions? To be honest this is mostly a project while save for a newer mac but I will be having multiple tabs and apps open during heavy research.
 
See if anything is using your CPU before you run your tests with the 16GB installed...

take some screenshots of system report as well where the cpu and memory info can be seen

something is up, like your cpu speeds are limited or something else is running. See if the intel power gadget will run on your computer and see if you are hitting the same ghz during 8/16gb tests
 
robvas said:
See if anything is using your CPU before you run your tests with the 16GB installed...

take some screenshots of system report as well where the cpu and memory info can be seen

something is up, like your cpu speeds are limited or something else is running. See if the intel power gadget will run on your computer and see if you are hitting the same ghz during 8/16gb tests
Click to expand...

How would I check if anything is using the CPU before the tests?

I felt like something was limiting my CPU as well. Its a Core 2 Duo so I know its not great but I've read a good number of thread of people successfully running 16GB. Unfortunately, I tried Intel power gadget and it doesn't run on my machine because of the Core 2 Duo is too obsolete.

I really appreciate the help!
 
The processor shouldn't be a problem because the chipset supports the 16gb. Also if i'm not wrong, your Macbook is not going to use all the speed of your SSD because 2010 Macbooks doesn't support Sata III.

Are you using both 1066mhz ram sticks or one of them is 1333 or higher? that Nvidia chipset is very tricky. You could use 16gb, but if they're not clock the same, they will not run in dual channel.
 
iapplerandomthings said:
Are you using both 1066mhz ram sticks or one of them is 1333 or higher? that Nvidia chipset is very tricky. You could use 16gb, but if they're not clock the same, they will not run in dual channel.
Click to expand...
Lack of dual-channel won't cause the drop in performance he's seeing. It'd be a few % at most,
 
What is the state of your battery? A dead or one at the end of its lifespan results in your MacBook Pro throttling down significantly.
 
Does the Samsung SSD use a Sandforce controller? With the NVIDIA chipset Apple used, any SSD with a Sandforce controller will only run at SATA 1 speeds and not SATA II. I found that out the hard way with my old 2009 17" MBP.
 
I'm in the process curently of cloning my HHD to a 1TB SSD

my next plan was to upgrade the ram I've got 6GB from a previously upgrade in 2011 Maybe.

I've got a 2012 MBP as well and I I've been using it on daily bases never had a single complain.

Please let us know how it goes and if you remove one of the rams and make it 12GB and let us know.

Mine I've tried the 8 GB back then and it didn't work only when I kept one of the previous apple Rams "2GB"+ the supplied OWC "4GB" and it's been running fine since then.
[automerge]1598024616[/automerge]
But now I believe I need more ram & it's been years and the products are cheaper, faster more reliable and better
 
There’s after a reinstall beside of indexing also the photos app which does cpu intense face recognition and what not. If you have a lot of pics that can take hours...
 
iapplerandomthings said:
The processor shouldn't be a problem because the chipset supports the 16gb. Also if i'm not wrong, your Macbook is not going to use all the speed of your SSD because 2010 Macbooks doesn't support Sata III.



Are you using both 1066mhz ram sticks or one of them is 1333 or higher? that Nvidia chipset is very tricky. You could use 16gb, but if they're not clock the same, they will not run in dual channel.
Click to expand...



You may be right about the SSD, but the read and write speeds are up like 4x. It’s the really the RAM I’m trying to triage.



I’m using both 1066mhz. They came in a set. I believe the name is Timetec Hynix IC.



TheIguana said:
What is the state of your battery? A dead or one at the end of its lifespan results in your MacBook Pro throttling down significantly.
Click to expand...
I replaced the battery about a year ago. It only has like 5-6 full cycles in it.
maerz001 said:
There’s after a reinstall beside of indexing also the photos app which does cpu intense face recognition and what not. If you have a lot of pics that can take hours...
Click to expand...
Sorry I’m not understanding? I don’t have a lot of photos or any photo editing apps
 
I ran a Rember 64bit RAM and test and the results are below. It recognized all 16GB, but I don’t really know what the rest means. Some insight would be great

Results:


Memtest version 4.22 (64-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 10.13.6 (17G14019) running in multiuser mode
Memory Page Size: 4096
System has 2 Intel core(s) with SSE
Requested memory: 12606MB (13218664448 bytes)
Available memory: 12606MB (13218664448 bytes)
Allocated memory: 12606MB (13218664448 bytes) at local address 0x0000000106d05000
Attempting memory lock... locked successfully
Partitioning memory into 2 comparison buffers...
Buffer A: 6303MB (6609332224 bytes) starts at local address 0x0000000106d05000
Buffer B: 6303MB (6609332224 bytes) starts at local address 0x0000000290c2b800

Running 3 test sequences... (CTRL-C to quit)

Test sequence 1 of 3:

Running tests on full 12606MB region...
Stuck Address : setting 1 of 16 ok
Linear PRN : setting 1 of 16 ok
Running comparison tests using 6303MB 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 : setting 1 of 64 ok
Block Sequential : setting 1 of 256 ok
Checkerboard : setting 1 of 64 ok
Bit Spread : setting 1 of 128 ok
Bit Flip : setting 1 of 512 ok
Walking Ones : setting 1 of 128 ok
Walking Zeroes : setting 1 of 128 ok
 
RtrnOfDaMac said:
I ran a Rember 64bit RAM and test and the results are below. It recognized all 16GB, but I don’t really know what the rest means. Some insight would be great

Results:


Memtest version 4.22 (64-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 10.13.6 (17G14019) running in multiuser mode
Memory Page Size: 4096
System has 2 Intel core(s) with SSE
Requested memory: 12606MB (13218664448 bytes)
Available memory: 12606MB (13218664448 bytes)
Allocated memory: 12606MB (13218664448 bytes) at local address 0x0000000106d05000
Attempting memory lock... locked successfully
Partitioning memory into 2 comparison buffers...
Buffer A: 6303MB (6609332224 bytes) starts at local address 0x0000000106d05000
Buffer B: 6303MB (6609332224 bytes) starts at local address 0x0000000290c2b800

Running 3 test sequences... (CTRL-C to quit)

Test sequence 1 of 3:

Running tests on full 12606MB region...
Stuck Address : setting 1 of 16 ok
Linear PRN : setting 1 of 16 ok
Running comparison tests using 6303MB 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 : setting 1 of 64 ok
Block Sequential : setting 1 of 256 ok
Checkerboard : setting 1 of 64 ok
Bit Spread : setting 1 of 128 ok
Bit Flip : setting 1 of 512 ok
Walking Ones : setting 1 of 128 ok
Walking Zeroes : setting 1 of 128 ok
Click to expand...
That looks like it’s only recognize 12GB?
 
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