Conclusion
When Kingston introduced the first real low-latency DDR3 we were impressed with the ability of the memory to reach DDR3-1500 at 7-7-7 timings at a reasonable low voltage. Many enthusiasts were also impressed with DDR3-1500 at 7-7-7 timings, as they should have been. However, some held out that it would take DDR3-1600 or DDR3-1666 that could run at 7-7-7 timings to get their attention.
A couple of weeks ago, Super Talent and TEAM introduced new DDR3 memory rated at DDR3-1600. In fact the Super Talent is actually rated at DDR3-1600 at 7-7-7 timings and it runs with complete stability at DDR3-1600 7-6-5 at 1.8V. The new Micron Z9 memory chips made this development possible, and we expected that every enthusiast memory maker would soon have DDR3 kits capable of DDR3-2000 and faster timings.
With the 1600 milestone, and the associated DDR3-2000 that memory could also reach, the reasons for not coveting DDR3 memory instead of DDR2 are officially gone. The fact is, DDR3 is faster than DDR2 today, and you won't have to wait a year to see that. Many manufacturers have announced super fast DDR3 based on these new Z9 Micron chips, and some of the offerings just sweeten the pot further.
OCZ PC3-14400 is such a memory. Rated at a blistering DDR3-1800 this is the fastest production DDR3 you can buy - at least for a few days. We have already heard a DDR3-1866 will be announced shortly. Perhaps more important than the rated speed is the fact the new OCZ memory promises an even more aggressive binning with the 1800 rating at 8-8-8 timings. The OCZ DDR3-1800 in fact handily exceeds it rated specs, reaching DDR3-2040 at the rated timings of 8-8-8 and an astounding DDR3-1900 at 7-7-7- timings at 2.1V. This is all evidence that, as we expected, OCZ managed a bit better binning for these DIMMs.
This OCZ PC3-14400 Platinum also proves that Micron Z9 chips can be very good at mid-range speeds. This is the first DDR3 memory we have tested that is completely stable at 5-5-4 timings at DDR3-1333, an achievement that sounded unlikely in early June when we were happy to be running DDR3-1333 at 9-9-9 timings. All in all the new OCZ DDR3-1800 is a very satisfying product, with a broad range of chart-topping, stable DDR3 performance that will keep any enthusiast happy for a while.
We had a conversation a few days ago with a memory industry Engineer where we were discussing the incredible development of DDR3 memory since it was first introduced just a couple of months ago. He commented that so much progress has been made in such short time that "I wonder what we can do next year for an encore?" We don't have an answer for that question, but we do think there is one majorstumbling block to DDR3 and that is the current astronomical price, a price that is two to three times higher than DDR2.
We understand the high price point for new technology, and that prices will inevitably drop. Indeed, there are only two real vendors for retail DDR3 memory right now: Elpida and Micron. However, several of the heavyweights like Samsung, Qimonda, and possibly Hynix are ready to launch their own DDR3 memory chips. Early word is these new entries will be very competitive with Micron Z9. If that is truly the case Enthusiast DDR3 memory prices will surely drop.
There are also the genuine performance improvements brought by DDR3 memory that can run twice as fast as DDR2. You won't get double the real-world performance with DDR3 running at twice the clocks of DDR2, but as you have seen in our testing here, an 8% to 10% improvement in real-world gaming is definitely possible. This will be reason enough for enthusiasts who value performance first to move quickly to DDR3 - and that will also lower prices over time.
We are genuinely pleased with all the new Micron Z9 memory products, and we are particularly pleased with the performance of this OCZ PC3-14400 Platinum Edition. We are confident you will also be pleased with the performance of this memory if you can find a way to handle the price. That matters a great deal for many buyers and not so much for others. If you can afford the price of admission you won't be disappointed. If you can't then buy cheap, fast DDR2 and put whatever you have saved into a faster CPU or an upgraded video card. Generally you will get more bang for your buck by putting money into those two areas.
On the other hand, if you already own the top video card and the top-performing CPU then DDR3-2000 memory will look like the next "must-have" product to squeeze another 8% or so performance out of your top-line build. Value buyers will never understand this, but for some enthusiasts the only thing that matters is having the best that is available.
When Kingston introduced the first real low-latency DDR3 we were impressed with the ability of the memory to reach DDR3-1500 at 7-7-7 timings at a reasonable low voltage. Many enthusiasts were also impressed with DDR3-1500 at 7-7-7 timings, as they should have been. However, some held out that it would take DDR3-1600 or DDR3-1666 that could run at 7-7-7 timings to get their attention.
A couple of weeks ago, Super Talent and TEAM introduced new DDR3 memory rated at DDR3-1600. In fact the Super Talent is actually rated at DDR3-1600 at 7-7-7 timings and it runs with complete stability at DDR3-1600 7-6-5 at 1.8V. The new Micron Z9 memory chips made this development possible, and we expected that every enthusiast memory maker would soon have DDR3 kits capable of DDR3-2000 and faster timings.
With the 1600 milestone, and the associated DDR3-2000 that memory could also reach, the reasons for not coveting DDR3 memory instead of DDR2 are officially gone. The fact is, DDR3 is faster than DDR2 today, and you won't have to wait a year to see that. Many manufacturers have announced super fast DDR3 based on these new Z9 Micron chips, and some of the offerings just sweeten the pot further.
OCZ PC3-14400 is such a memory. Rated at a blistering DDR3-1800 this is the fastest production DDR3 you can buy - at least for a few days. We have already heard a DDR3-1866 will be announced shortly. Perhaps more important than the rated speed is the fact the new OCZ memory promises an even more aggressive binning with the 1800 rating at 8-8-8 timings. The OCZ DDR3-1800 in fact handily exceeds it rated specs, reaching DDR3-2040 at the rated timings of 8-8-8 and an astounding DDR3-1900 at 7-7-7- timings at 2.1V. This is all evidence that, as we expected, OCZ managed a bit better binning for these DIMMs.
This OCZ PC3-14400 Platinum also proves that Micron Z9 chips can be very good at mid-range speeds. This is the first DDR3 memory we have tested that is completely stable at 5-5-4 timings at DDR3-1333, an achievement that sounded unlikely in early June when we were happy to be running DDR3-1333 at 9-9-9 timings. All in all the new OCZ DDR3-1800 is a very satisfying product, with a broad range of chart-topping, stable DDR3 performance that will keep any enthusiast happy for a while.
We had a conversation a few days ago with a memory industry Engineer where we were discussing the incredible development of DDR3 memory since it was first introduced just a couple of months ago. He commented that so much progress has been made in such short time that "I wonder what we can do next year for an encore?" We don't have an answer for that question, but we do think there is one majorstumbling block to DDR3 and that is the current astronomical price, a price that is two to three times higher than DDR2.
We understand the high price point for new technology, and that prices will inevitably drop. Indeed, there are only two real vendors for retail DDR3 memory right now: Elpida and Micron. However, several of the heavyweights like Samsung, Qimonda, and possibly Hynix are ready to launch their own DDR3 memory chips. Early word is these new entries will be very competitive with Micron Z9. If that is truly the case Enthusiast DDR3 memory prices will surely drop.
There are also the genuine performance improvements brought by DDR3 memory that can run twice as fast as DDR2. You won't get double the real-world performance with DDR3 running at twice the clocks of DDR2, but as you have seen in our testing here, an 8% to 10% improvement in real-world gaming is definitely possible. This will be reason enough for enthusiasts who value performance first to move quickly to DDR3 - and that will also lower prices over time.
We are genuinely pleased with all the new Micron Z9 memory products, and we are particularly pleased with the performance of this OCZ PC3-14400 Platinum Edition. We are confident you will also be pleased with the performance of this memory if you can find a way to handle the price. That matters a great deal for many buyers and not so much for others. If you can afford the price of admission you won't be disappointed. If you can't then buy cheap, fast DDR2 and put whatever you have saved into a faster CPU or an upgraded video card. Generally you will get more bang for your buck by putting money into those two areas.
On the other hand, if you already own the top video card and the top-performing CPU then DDR3-2000 memory will look like the next "must-have" product to squeeze another 8% or so performance out of your top-line build. Value buyers will never understand this, but for some enthusiasts the only thing that matters is having the best that is available.
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MadBoris - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
"Far Cry sees a similar increase from 112.90 at 800 to 121.94 at DDR2-2000"I think you meant DDR3-2000. Although DDR2-2000, would be nice. ;)
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
Corrected.Spoelie - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
...populating only one channel? With dual channel bandwidth exceeding double the bandwidth of the fsb, I'm curious as to how a single channel with equal or more bandwidth than the fsb would perform.Myrandex - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
Eh I hate it when people run dual channel boards in a single channel config. I remember a laptop review of the new Turion X2 and they were running it in single channel mode with onboard video. Heck where I work they do that all the time in the ATM systems that they manufacture. They pay for the dual channel chipset, yet they configure it to run in single channel mode.YellowWing - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
Thanks for keeping the CPU clock constant this time. We get the chance to see what the memory is adding without having to factor out the CPU clock changes. I look forward to new straps for a completely even test environment.Wesley Fink - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
You're welcome. All of your suggestions on making this a better memory test platform were very helpful. We need 1600 and 2000 memory straps right now with DDR3 boards. I sincerely doubt that it even occurred to JEDEC and motherboard makers that we would be caring about DDR3-2000 this early in the development of DDR3. The memory speed development of DDR2 seems almost glacial by comparison.mostlyprudent - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
Although I did not participate in the discussion of the last article, I did follow it and want to tip my hat to Wes (and really all the AT authors) for being willing to engage readers in the comments and apply the feedback and critiques offered. This is why, IMHO, AT has continued to get better and better over the years.qpwoei - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
As a critic of the last article, I'd like to chime in and say well done on this one as well. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll be seeing any > 1:1 ratios on external chipsets (ie: non-IMC) for a while, if ever. The design issues for making > 1:1 ratios really outweigh the benefits, especially in a system where the memory bandwidth is already twice the FSB bandwidth.MadBoris - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
Hey wesley,I also wanted to say thanks for the more apples to apples comparison with DDR2. I think this is really of utmost importance to most folks before we start comparing DDR3 among other DDR3 modules. As exciting as DDR3 is as a technology we still want to see the real world performance improvement over DDR2 to justify for ourselves any price increase with new purchases, let alone the three fold price increase. If I get 3 to 4 percent less performance for 1/3 the price then that is a good purchasing decision for me. All new memory suffers from these teething pains, I just wanted them quantifiable.
In further search for the real world comparison and the true advantages that DDR3 brings at it's current highest speeds comared to DDR2 at it's highest speeds(1066 in this case), I did have to flip back and forth between pages 4 and 7 several times. With page 4 using a 2.66 GHZ CPU clock frequency and page 7 using 3GHZ, a direct comparison in the benchmark numbers themselves wasn't possible due to the 10% CPU difference. Initially page 7 scores looked much better than page 4 until I factored in the 10% CPU difference. It took a few minutes to come to a method of distinguishing the real world advantage of DDR3 running at it's highest speeds, compared to DDR2 at it's higher speeds.
basically, I came to the conclusion if 1333 is where DDR3 starts to get it's legs and surpass DDR2(as you state on page 4). Page 4 doesn't actually show the 1333 speeds of DDR2 in the chart (as none exists), but you can see there is a minor advantage in the two games emerging over the previous chart with 1066 DDR2. So then comparing DDR3 at 1333 to DDR3 at highest speeds on page 7 gives me a rough estimate of the "real world" performance of DDR3 at it's highest speed over what DDR2 has it's highest speeds (with an additional 1% tossed in as advantage over 1066 ddr2). All this extrapolation was necessary due to the 10% CPU difference. Not complaing, just stating a fact in trying to get to the real world benefits if I was going to by a platform today, and having to justify the cost/performance ratio.
In the end, the real world benefit of DDR3 at it's highest speeds, compared to a P35 running DDR2 at it's highest speeds(both with fastest timings using 1333 as the cutoff where DDR2 is left behind) came out to about 3 - 5 percent real world gaming benefit in benchmarks of Far Cry and Quake 4. Obviously the synthetics showed much more, but they always do. All that of course is based on the reality that 1333 is where the performance shift takes place with the current fastest DDR2 and fastest DDR3, which is what I was after. To me, 3 - 5 percent definitely doesn't justify 3 times the cost of the memory yet, especially if a board supports both DDR2 and DDR3.
Anyway, thanks for making an apples to apples comparison more possible in this review, even though not exact, I could extrapolate the necessary info I wanted. I'm sure as latency continues to lower on DDR3, than all this additional frequency will be worth something beyond the current meager benefits over DDR2 at 1066.
indeed - Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - link
Is there any chance that we'll be seeing DDR2 1066 4GB packs with 2 modules any time soon?