OCZ VX Memory + DFI nForce4 = DDR533 at 2-2-2
by Wesley Fink on March 4, 2005 6:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Performance Test Configuration
The OCZ VX DDR500 was tested with the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR Athlon 64 Socket 939 motherboard. The new DFI nForce4 SLI and Ultra are the only current production boards that support the voltages required for top VX performance. An OCZ DDR Booster can be used with motherboards without support for high memory voltages. Other components remain the same as used in the memory setup in Athlon 64 Memory: Rewriting the Rules .All other memory tests were run earlier on the MSI K8N Neo2, based on the nForce 3 Ultra. We have already shown performance of the nF3 and nF4 to be virtually identical in our launch reviews of the nForce4 chipset. Similarly AGP and PCIe performance has been shown to be virtually the same using the same video card (6800 Ultra AGP vs. 6800 Ultra PCIe. For these reasons we did not retest earlier memory on the DFI. However, we were concerned about the potential performance difference in 61.77 video drivers compared to 71.80, so we ran a quick set of comparisons. 71.80 drivers were slightly faster in game benchmarks than 71.80 and slightly slower than 61.77 in memory bandwidth tests. However, the differences were small enough that we were confident the results were not seriously distorted by using the 71.80 drivers.
The A64 test bed for testing the OCZ VX and the standard MSI test bed both include components that have been proven in Socket 939 Athlon 64 benchmarking, such as the Socket 939 FX53 (same specifications as current 4000+), and the OCZ Power Stream 520 Power Supply. Since the Athlon 64 tests represent a new series of DDR testing, we have chosen the current generation nVidia 6800 Ultra video card for benchmarking. We have found the 6800 Ultra to be a particularly good performance match to nVidia motherboards.
All other basic test conditions attempted to mirror those used in our earlier Intel memory reviews. However, test results are not directly comparable to tests performed on the Intel test bed.
| AMD nForce4 Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD FX53 Athlon 64 (2.4GHz, Socket 939, 1 MB cache, Dual Channel, 1000HT) |
| RAM: | OCZ EL PC4000 VX Gold (DS) 2X512MB Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25 (DS) 2X512MB G. Skill TCCD (DS) 2X512MB PQI 3200 Turbo (DS) 2X512MB Crucial Ballistix (DS) 2X512MB Geil PC3200 Ultra X (DS) 2X512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev 2 (DS) 2X512MB OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev 3 (DS) 2X512MB |
| Hard Drives: | Seagate 120GB PATA (IDE) 7200RPM 8MB Cache |
| PCI/AGP Speed: | Fixed at 33/66 |
| Video Card(s): | nVidia 6800 Ultra 256MB, 256MB aperture, 1024x768x32 |
| Video Drivers: | nVidia Forceware 71.80 nVidia Forceware 61.77 |
| Power Supply: | OCZ Power Stream 520W |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Motherboards: | DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (nForce3) |
With nForce3 motherboards, we achieved the fastest performance on AMD Athlon 64 chipsets (nForce3, VIA K8T800 PRO) at Cycle Time or tRAS of 10. However, as we saw in the recent nForce4 SLI roundup, the nForce4 appears to behave a bit differently with memory. In the SLI roundup, we found a tRAS of 7 to be ideal for memory based on Samsung TCCD chips. Therefore, we ran a complete set of Memtest86 benchmarks with only tRAS varied to determine the best tRAS setting for OCZ VX.
| Memtest86 Bandwidth DFI nForce4, Athlon64 4000+, OCZ VX |
|
| 2 tRAS | 2572 |
| 3 tRAS | 2572 |
| 4 tRAS | 2572 |
| 5 tRAS | 2640 |
| 6 tRAS | 2640 |
| 7 tRAS | 2640 |
| 8 tRAS | 2505 |
| 9 tRAS | 2505 |
| 10 tRAS | 2505 |
| 11 tRAS | 2441 |
| 12 tRAS | 2383 |
These tests are particularly easy to do with the DFI nF4 boards, since memtest86 is built into the BIOS. To boot memtest86, you only have to enable it in BIOS and the system will boot directly into memtest86. This makes it very easy to test various memory timings, but memtest86 should be disabled in BIOS when you are ready to boot into the system.
The best memory bandwidth with VX and the 4000+ was achieved in the tRAS 5 to tRAS 7 range. Therefore, all VX testing was done with a tRAS setting of 6.
Test Settings
All AMD Athlon 64 processors are unlocked downward, and the FX CPUs are unlocked up and down. This feature allows a different approach to memory testing, which truly measures performance differences in memory speed alone. All tests were run with CPU speed as close to the specified 2.4GHz of the 4000+/FX53 as possible, with CPU speed/Memory Speed increased at lower multipliers to achieve 2.4Ghz. This approach allows the true measurement of the impact of higher memory speed and timings on performance, since CPU speed is fixed, removing CPU speed as a factor in memory performance.The following settings were tested with the OCZ EL PC4000 VX Gold on the DFI nF4 test bed:
- 2.4GHz at 12x200 (DDR400) - the highest stock memory speed supported on K8T800-Pro/nF3-4/SiS755-FX motherboards.
- 2.4GHz at 11x218 (DDR436) - a ratio near the standard DDR433 speed
- 2.4GHz at 10x240 (DDR480) - a ratio near the standard rating of DDR466
- 2.4GHz at 9x267 (DDR533) - a standard memory speed used in testing other high-speed memory
- Highest Memory Speed - the highest memory speed that we could achieve regardless of the multiplier. This setting was achieved at a 1T command rate with the VX, so this is also the result that produces the best memory performance.
We ran our standard suite of memory performance benchmarks - Quake 3, Return to Castle Wolfenstein-Enemy Territory-Radar, Super Pi 2M, and Sandra 2004 Standard and UnBuffered. Since the results for Athlon 64 tests are new, we are now including Sandra Buffered (Standard) test results and Sandra UnBuffered test results. RTCW Enemy Territory has also been added as a standard memory benchmark.
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Quanticles - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link
Wesley, it's disturbing that you refuse to re-test other memories on the same test set-up that you used for this memory, or make some other effort to do a fair test set-up.Anandtech really shouldnt be making any assumptions. I dont want to bash... but... how can anyone take these tests seriously? How do we know that OCZ didnt *ask* that this memory to be tested on the DFI board for boosted results? I dont want to say such things, but you're leaving yourself open to these questions.
Wesley Fink - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link
#38, #40, #41 -In the review we never stated that the other memory chips were tested on the DFI. We pulled the results from our earlier benchmark, since we have already established that the nF3 and nF4 perform virtually the same, and the AGP and PCIe perform virtually the same. In fact, if you check closely, the DFI was a very average performer at stock speeds, so the DFI is not the reason for higher speeeds.
As much as it goes against the grain of many peoples thinking, 2-2-2 on one memory has never performed the same as 2-2-2 on another chip. There are performance differences that can only be explained by difference in the memory chips.
We would have tested on the MSI Neo2 had it supported the voltages needed by VX, but it can't supply them. We do not have a DDR Booster at present so we could not test on another motherboard, so we tested on the only production motherboard to supply voltages needed by the VX.
The 71.80 drivers ARE a bit faster than the 61.77 used for some earlier tests, but the difference is still small and does not change the performance pattern seen in this review. I have posted those benchmarks earlier in these comments.
bigtoe36 - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link
#44BH5 is about the same speed as VX is
JoKeRr - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link
I know most BH5 or BH6 will do 250fsb 2-2-2- timing as well with like 3.3Vs. Wesley, how does the BH5 at 250 2-2-2 compare with VX at 2-2-2 250? is bh5 slower or just as fast?? (since u mention "If we had results from older BH5 chips you would likely have seen BH5 perform between Samsung TCCD and OCZ VX", would that be at ddr400? or ddr500? Thankq for the great review, btw when are we goin to see the review for the 24'' and 20'' widescreen dell lcd??JoKeRr - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link
Rand - Saturday, March 5, 2005 - link
Wesley, I understand the DIMM's are using the same chip and hence unsurprisingly they perform similarly.What I am finding hard to believe is that all of the DIMM's perform identically on two different motherboards, using different graphics drivers.
In every single test the bandwidth never deviates by even 1MB/s or so much as 0.1 FPS.
I would imagine the odds of two different platforms never devaiting in anything by even the sammest margin is bordering on non-existent.
cryptonomicon - Saturday, March 5, 2005 - link
this smells like winbond, especially the settings where it settled best around tras 5 or 6. that is unique to BH5/6. also the voltage is unique to BH5/6 only.a winbond chip if ive ever seen one.
slashbinslashbash - Saturday, March 5, 2005 - link
#35 - That's not what #34 was asking. It's no surprise that sticks of RAM using the same chips will perform similarly.What IS a surprise is that the PQI 3200 Turbo gave 512.9 FPS in Quake 3 Arena in a DFI nF4 motherboard with nVidia 71.80 drivers, and it also happened to get 512.9 FPS in Quake 3 Arena in an MSI nF3 motherboard with nVidia 61.77 drivers (as shown in your January 4th review of the Corsair PC4400). This exact sameness in benchmark numbers is the same down the line, with every type of RAM and every benchmark -- both gaming and synthetic. I checked every single number.
There's no need to re-test all of the 7 types of RAM in the DFI board with the newer drivers. Just a couple, say the Crucial and the Geil, so we can know that the conclusions are valid.
frodin - Saturday, March 5, 2005 - link
"With nForce3 motherboards, we achieved the fastest performance on AMD Athlon 64 chipsets (nForce3, VIA K8T800 PRO) at Cycle Time or tRAS of 10."Are you saying there are nForce3 motherboards out there with VIA chipsets? ;-) I know it is probably a typo, nevermind.
However, i thought the tras 10- thing was a odd behaviour of the nforce2/3 chipsets only, not the VIA K8T800 PRO too.
Otherwise, good review, as always. These chips would be something to look for here in Norway, considering the fact that vx3200- ram is no more expensive than TCCD- chipped ram.
ozzimark - Saturday, March 5, 2005 - link
#35-wes, you're right there, but it doesn't help explain the profound performance differencce seen in the gaming tests and unbuffered bandwidth... it all adds up to the dfi providing better memory/graphics performance in my mind.