Windows Experience Index

I have an Acer Aspire 5100 running Home Premium. My computer (laptop) has an
AMD Turion 64 MK-36 processor and ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 graphics. At the
time of purchase, my system had 1gb RAM installed. I have since upgraded the
RAM to 3gb (2gb + 1gb). Prior to the 3gb upgrade, i had a previous upgrade
where I upgraded the initial 1gb to 2gb (2 x 1gb). At the time of the 2gb
upgrade , my WEI was for graphics, and subsequently, for my whole system was
3.1. The RAM installed is DDR2 PC5300 (667mhz). When I installed the 2gb
module (bringing system memory to 3gb), the WEI dropped to 2.4. I really
didn't think it that big of a deal, except that I lost some functions in
Photo Gallery and Media Center (transition effects). I was told that having
different manufacturer RAM modules is not the sticking point; rather that as
long as both RAM modules are the same frequency then there wouldn't be any
performance degradation. Now I am beginning to believe different. Do I in
fact need to have same manufacturer, as well as frequency, to bring my WEI
score back up and regain that functionality that I have lost?

"marvin" wrote:

> I have an Acer Aspire 5100 running Home Premium. My computer (laptop) has an
> AMD Turion 64 MK-36 processor and ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 graphics. At the
> time of purchase, my system had 1gb RAM installed. I have since upgraded the
> RAM to 3gb (2gb + 1gb). Prior to the 3gb upgrade, i had a previous upgrade
> where I upgraded the initial 1gb to 2gb (2 x 1gb). At the time of the 2gb
> upgrade , my WEI was for graphics, and subsequently, for my whole system was
> 3.1. The RAM installed is DDR2 PC5300 (667mhz). When I installed the 2gb
> module (bringing system memory to 3gb), the WEI dropped to 2.4. I really
> didn't think it that big of a deal, except that I lost some functions in
> Photo Gallery and Media Center (transition effects). I was told that having
> different manufacturer RAM modules is not the sticking point; rather that as
> long as both RAM modules are the same frequency then there wouldn't be any
> performance degradation. Now I am beginning to believe different. Do I in
> fact need to have same manufacturer, as well as frequency, to bring my WEI
> score back up and regain that functionality that I have lost?
And let me add that I have tried to update my score configuring my computer
in various ways: changing/disabling indexing, changing display setting
(resolution, special effects, etc.), and changing the graphics card settings.
I have all drivers updated as well.

what i did was to replace the 1gb module with another 1gb module from the
same manufacturer. my index rose to 3.0 (it was 3.1 when there was only 2gb
installed). i'm not crying about the .1. thanks for the help marvin