Performance Test Configuration

We tested all 5 of the DDR400 2-2-2 memories in our standard Intel Pentium 4 Memory testbed. The hardware for evaluating these new memories is the same used in our earlier reviews of DDR400 and faster Memory.

Buffalo FireStix: Red Hot Name for a New High-End Memory
New DDR Highs: Shikatronics, OCZ, and the Fastest Memory Yet
The Return of 2-2-2: Corsair 3200XL & Samsung PC4000
OCZ 3700EB: Making Hay with Athlon 64
OCZ 3500EB: The Importance of Balanced Memory Timings
Mushkin PC3200 2-2-2 Special: Last of a Legend
PMI DDR533: A New Name in High-Performance Memory
Samsung PC3700: DDR466 Memory for the Masses
Kingmax Hardcore Memory: Tiny BGA Reaches For Top Speed
New Memory Highs: Corsair and OCZ Introduce DDR550
OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev. 2: The Universal Soldier
OCZ 4200EL: Tops in Memory Performance
Mushkin PC4000 High Performance: DDR500 PLUS
Corsair TwinX1024-4000 PRO: Improving DDR500 Performance
Mushkin & Adata: 2 for the Fast-Timings Lane
Searching for the Memory Holy Grail - Part 2

All test conditions were as close as possible to those used in our earlier memory reviews. We have also eliminated from our charts any memory that has been discontinued, including Winbond BH5 versions from several vendors and earlier versions of several current memory products.

 INTEL 875P Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s): Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz (800MHz FSB)
RAM: 2 x 512MB Crucial Ballistix PC3200 (DS)
2 x 512MB Kingston HyperX PC3200 L-L (DS)
2 x 512MB Mushkin PC3200 Level II V2 (DS)
2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 (DS)
2 x 512MB Corsair 3200XL PRO (DS)

2 x 256MB Samsung PC4000 (SS)
2 x 512MB Buffalo FireStix PC4000 (DS)
2 x 512MB Shika XRAM PC4400 (DS)
2 x 512MB OCZ PC4400 EL Gold (DS)
2 x 512MB OCZ 3700EB (DS)
2 x 512MB OCZ 3500EB (DS)
2 x 512MB Mushkin 2-2-2 Special (DS)
2 x 512MB PMI4200 Gold (DDR533 DS)
4 x 256MB Samsung PC3700 (DDR466 SS)
2 x 512MB Kingmax DDR500 Hardcore Series (DS)
2 x 512MB Kingmax DDR466 Hardcore Series (DS)
2 x 512MB Corsair XMS4400v1.1 TwinX (DS)
2 x 512MB OCZ PC4400 DC Kit (DS)
2 x 512MB OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev. 2 (DS)
2 x 512MB OCZ 4200EL(DS)
2 x 512MB Mushkin PC4000 High Performance (DS)
2 x 512MB Corsair TwinX4000 PRO (DS)
2 x 256MB Adata DDR450 (SS)
2 x 512MB Adata PC4000 (DS)
2 x 512MB Corsair PC4000 (DS)
2 x 512MB Geil PC4000 (DS)
2 x 512MB OCZ PC4000 (DS)
Hard Drives: 2 Western Digital Raptor Serial ATA 36.7GB 10,000RPM drives in an Intel ICH5R RAID configuration
PCI/AGP Speed: Fixed at 33/66
Bus Master Drivers: 875P Intel INF Update v5.00.1012, SATA RAID drivers installed, but IAA not installed
Video Card(s): ATI 9800 PRO 128MB, 128MB aperture, 1024x768x32
Video Drivers: ATI Catalyst 4.7
Power Supply: Vantec Stealth 470Watt Aluminum
Operating System(s): Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards: Asus P4C800-E (875) with 1016 Release BIOS

We have found the fastest performance on Intel 865/875 to be achieved at Cycle Time or tRAS of 5, or the fastest tRAS setting that is stable with the tested memory. Intel platform benchmarks were run with the fastest stable tRAS timings that we could achieve with the memory being tested.

Test Settings

We ran our standard suite of memory performance benchmarks. The following settings were tested with all of the DDR400 2-2-2 memories:
  1. 800FSB/DDR400 - the highest stock speed supported on 875/865 and K8T800/nF3/SiS755 motherboards.
  2. 866FSB/DDR433 - a speed rating that we have used in testing other low-latency DDR400 memory.
  3. 933FSB/DDR466 - another speed rating that we have used in testing low-latency memory
  4. 1000FSB/DDR500 - a standard memory speed used in testing high-speed memory
  5. Highest Stable Overclock - the highest settings we could achieve with this memory and other memory that we have tested.
These are the same general settings used in benchmarking other memory in the above list of memory tests. DDR400, DDR500 and Highest Memory Speed have been used for all benchmarking. DDR433 and 466 have only been tested in the past for low-latency modules that generally could not reach DDR500 or higher speeds. However, we have tested at these speeds in this DDR400 2-2-2 roundup to give you a better idea of the full range of performance with these new 2-2-2 modules. We have also included test results at DDR533 for the one DDR400 2-2-2 memory that reached that speed and beyond.

OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 Test Results: Corsair 3200XL PRO
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  • Wesley Fink - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    #26 - DDR460 2-2-2 at 2.75V according to my review notes
  • babyelf - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    Hi

    It's said that the crucial did 2-2-2 up till DDR460. At what voltage is that?
  • DreamInBlue - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    crucial has always been highly overclockable. my regular cas3 ddr400 crucial does cas 2.5 at 250fsb.
  • bigtoe33 - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    vie2233hil

    You quoting performance series and not Platinum rev2

    Platinum rev2 uses TCCD and was used for this roundup.
  • vie2233hil - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    OCZ would like to to announce a revision change in our PC-3200 Performance Series line of memory. PC-3200 Revision 2 has been discontinued and replaced by OCZ PC-3200 Revision 3 DDR.

    OCZ PC-3200 Revision 3 DDR is specified for CL2-3-3-6 timings o­n Intel-based systems and CL2.5-3-3-6 timings o­n AMD based systems. The lifetime warranty of existing PC-3200 Revision 2 modules will not be invalidated by this change.
  • Pumpkinierre - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    Nice article, nice charts and nice memory. With all the extra work from the new components let's hope you're still having fun, Wesley. Keep the i875 going. I'm not sure about the nf3 if the tRAS has to be set to >10. Any chance OCZ might be releasing a CAS2 DDR500 in the near future with that new batch of Samsung chips?

  • Potem - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    #19 - From page 9: "We have seen reports of some variability in the performance of the Ballistix memory, and overclocking results are never guaranteed. However, our results with another pair of Ballistix DIMMs were very similar."
  • JustAnAverageGuy - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    #18

    As long as it is a reputable vender, quantity is often better than quality. :)

    i.e. 256MB of 3500 level 2 mushkin extreme blah blah is probably going to perform worse than 1GB of corsair value ram.
  • Lazzydog - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    Wesley you have still yet to comment on the question of whether or not the crucial sticks were cherry picked or not. I know in a lot of reviews you try and get your products as anonymously as possible is this true with the crucial ram or not? If not these could hardly be indicative of ram that the rest of us could get and should be known for people who plan on purchasing ballistix ram.
  • GabeyD - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link


    Is there a comparison anywhare of "Value" memory against this high end, high $ stuff. For example, I cag get 1G of Coorsair Value for $180 and the lest expensive high end memory is about $280, a $100 difference. How much real performance is this $100 getting me?

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