=<em>F-A-S-T</em>= DDR Memory: 2-2-2 Roars on the Scene
by Wesley Fink on August 5, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Test Results: Corsair 3200XL PRO
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 included results for RCW-ET using the Radar benchmark.| Corsair 3200XL PRO (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 |
326.4 | INT 2900 FLT 2942 |
INT 4525 FLT 4532 |
128 | 70.8 |
| 433DDR 866FSB |
2-2-2-5 2.75V |
353.0 | INT 3069 FLT 3148 |
INT 4852 FLT 4875 |
119 | 77.0 |
| 466DDR 933FSB |
2-3-3-6 2.75V |
369.1 | INT 3237 FLT 3219 |
INT 5181 FLT 5196 |
113 | 80.6 |
| 500DDR 1000FSB |
2.5-3-3-7 2.75V |
394.1 | INT 3346 FLT 3379 |
INT 5568 FLT 5575 |
106 | 86.8 |
| 506DDR 1012FSB |
3-4-4-7 2.85V |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Corsair 3200XL was able to run at 2-2-2-5 timings all the way to DDR450, something you would never see with Winbond BH5 modules in the past. 3200XL topped out at DDR506 at much slower timings than required at DDR500. As a result, there was no point to running DDR506 benchmarks as they would have been lower than DDR500 results.
More information on the performance of 3200XL is available in the Corsair launch review. As the manufacturer who started it all with DDR400 2-2-2 memory about 6 weeks ago, Corsair is the brand to which every memory in this roundup must be compared.
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Anemone - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link
Would love to see OCZ do further expansion on the EL or EB area of DDR2. I'm sure it's at lower limits (the timings of DDR2 stink really), but if anyone could push them as low as possible I'd expect OCZ to do it.Anemone - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link
Yeah OCZ seems to have their stuff where it counts.I'll note this highlights an issue that's caught my eye, and that is in the furor over the AMD64 chips, its less visible just sometimes how much "special stuff", ie choice memory modules, it takes to keep the AMD platforms running at top speed. On the Intel side of the fence you can plug just about anything in and get some speed, but in many cases that's still a guessing game for the AMD stuff. Given how that plays out a year or two down the line when you want to buy just an upgrade part or two, I'm kind of a fan of the "just buy the latest Superbytes mem module XXX and plug and go" kind of usefulness, which I see 'more' on the Intel side of things, and I do mean 'more' not 'only'.
Also want to mention that lately tending to see more enthusiasts aiming for as much as 2gb of memory, and when you get there, the AMD controllers seem to not fly as much as with lower amounts, losing as much as 10% of their performance.
Blah, no easy choices here imo.
ceefka - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link
Great review. For those of us who want to build a 939, we'd love to see the next article. We apparently have a lot of RAM to choose from.Now on the theoretical side: How would the best DDR2 perform? What would the differences be? Can these results justify AMD's choice to ignore DDR2?
Bozo Galora - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link
Another very timely review.You are now answering questions for me in advance - lol.
Color changes for reviewed items better, but as a nitpick, it might be cool to continue colors to the names of mem also, not just the bar??? Dark green needs to be a lighter color - like pink. 2 greens not friendly.
Anyway thanx fella.
cnq - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link
Wesley,Can you comment on the 2.5-2-2 timings past DDR500 of the Crucial? It seems slightly fishy, considering that you used their PC3200, which is lower-binned than their PC4000...and even the 4000 is only rated at 2.5-3-3 at DDR500.
Is it possible that Crucial sent you a cherry-picked sample for review?
Anyone else out there own a set of the Ballistix care to comment?
JustAnAverageGuy - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link
catchy title=F-A-S-T=
A bit unprofessional maybe, but catchy :)
shady06 - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link
OCZ = smokin