Test Results: Geil PC3200 Ultra X


To be considered stable for test purposes Quake3 benchmark, UT2003 Demo, Super PI, Aquamark 3, and Comanche 4 had to complete without incident. ANY of these, and in particular Super PI, will crash a less-than stable memory configuration. We have also included results for RCW-ET using the Radar benchmark.

Geil PC3200 Ultra X (DDR400) - 2 x 512Mb Double-Bank
Speed Memory Timings & Voltage Quake3 fps Sandra UNBuffered Sandra Standard Buffered Super PI 2M places
(time in sec)
Wolfenstein - Radar - Enemy Territory
fps
400DDR
800FSB
2-2-2-5
2.5V
331.8 INT 2908
FLT 2933
INT 4511
FLT 4515
126 70.8
433DDR
866FSB
2-2-3-5
2.5V
354.1 INT 3089
FLT 3075
INT 4869
FLT 4858
118 76.1
466DDR
933FSB
2.5-3-3-5
2.75V
376.2 INT 3200
FLT 3227
INT 5100
FLT 5198
111 81.2
500DDR
1000FSB
2.5-3-3-6
2.75V
401.5 INT 3328
FLT 3348
INT 5547
FLT 5560
103 86.6
533DDR
1066FSB
2.5-3-3-6
2.75V
426.3 INT 3598
FLT 3597
INT 5918
FLT 5911
97 92.4
561DDR
1122FSB
3-3-4-7
2.85V
438.6 INT 3747
FLT 3698
INT 6184
FLT 6173
93 97.0

All of the new DDR400 2-2-2 memory we have tested reached DDR500, but most reached only slightly beyond the 500 speed at the highest voltage and most relaxed timings the memory would support. It was a pleasant surprise to find Geil Ultra X the second DDR400 to reach DDR533 and beyond. In fact, the highest speed we could achieve with Geil Ultra X, DDR561, sets a new record as the fastest speed yet achieved with a memory rated at DDR400. To be fair, DDR561 is a memory speed rarely achieved with any memory, let alone a memory rated at DDR400.
Performance Test Configuration Performance Comparisons
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  • qquizz - Friday, August 20, 2004 - link

    excellent read thanks Anandtech for the useful info
  • Avalon - Friday, August 20, 2004 - link

    Forgot to mention it was tested on an A64 rig. If you've got an AXP rig, lower latency might mean more. I should go test it out...
    Anyway, great article Wes! It's good to see Geil come out near the top. They make some great memory and are very under-recognized sometimes.
  • Avalon - Friday, August 20, 2004 - link

    I forget where I saw it, but I did see latency compared in a Doom 3 article. Low CAS 2 latency benefitted over CAS 2.5 by giving you roughly 2-3% more framerates. Which added up to about 1 frame. Since I can't quite remember where I found it, take this with a large boulder of salt :P
  • ciwell - Friday, August 20, 2004 - link

    I am wondering the same thing as #5. It would be very interesting to see a comparison between the Value RAMs and these.

    Anyways, great article.
  • Visual - Friday, August 20, 2004 - link

    This isn't really in the goals of this article, but I'm wondering, is the extra-low latency worth it at DDR400?

    Could you include a slow(Value RAM) memory from Kingston, Corsair or other, running at CAS 2.5 and 3 for comparison?

    I really wanna know if the extra $100 or so for a low-latency ram would give me noticeable difference.
  • pookie69 - Friday, August 20, 2004 - link

    Mr Fink!!!! Another GREAT READ!!!! I so LOVE these memory articles of yours. SO informative and give much food for thought.

    Thanks and keep up the gd work! ;)
  • Wesley Fink - Friday, August 20, 2004 - link

    #1 - Corrected. We are missing our Web Editor who is taking a well-deserved vacation.

    #2 - You make an interesting point. I was leaning toward Samsung TCCD chips, particularly based on the poorer overclocks on Athlon 64, but I agree there are some timings at certain speeds that don't really fit. Hynix also exhibits poorer A64 overclocks compared to Intel, so it is a possibility.
  • Zebo - Friday, August 20, 2004 - link

    Nice work Wes. To bad we don't know what chips they have...I'm leaning twards hand picked Hynix that can do 2-2-2 @ 200 by the way it mirrors it's brothers at higher bandwidth...in addtion to it's bandwidth.
  • KingofCamelot - Friday, August 20, 2004 - link

    Just a couple of things you might want to fix, on the bottom of page 2 it has the title "OCZ PC3200 Platinum Revision 2 Specifications" which should be "Geil PC3200 Ultra X Memory Specifications". Also on page 4 at 557DDR speed the Quake3 fps is missing a decimal and is listed as 43486 instead of 434.86 fps. Other than that great review, awesome looking ram man!

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