OCZ VX Revisited: DDR Updates on DFI nForce4

Test Results: OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2

To be considered stable for test purposes, Quake3 benchmark, UT2003 Demo, Super PI, Aquamark 3, and RTCW had to complete without incident. Any of these, and in particular Super PI and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, will crash a less-than stable memory configuration.

OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 (DDR400) - 2 x 512Mb Double-Bank
CPU Ratio at 2.4GHz	Memory Speed	Memory Timings & Voltage	Quake3 fps	Sandra UNBuffered	Sandra Standard Buffered	Super PI 2M places (time in sec)	Wolfenstein - Radar - Enemy Territory fps
12x200	400DDR	2-2-2-6 2.6V 1T	549.5	INT 2850 FLT 3045	INT 6066 FLT 6034	80	114.9
11x218	436DDR	2-3-2-6 2.8V 1T	546.3	INT 2893 FLT 3065	INT 6452 FLT 6385	81	114.3
10x240	480DDR	2.5-3-3-6 2.8V 1T	550.2	INT 3016 FLT 3231	INT 6709 FLT 6631	80	115.1
9x267	533DDR	2.5-4-3-6 2.9V 1T	554.6	INT 3101 FLT 3331	INT 7026 FLT 6940	80	116.0
9x318 (2.86 GHz)	Highest CPU/Mem Performance	2.5-4-3-7 2.9V 1T	649.0	INT 3562 FLT 3752	INT 7828 FLT 7739	72	136.4

The OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 was the only memory to achieve its best performance at a 9 ratio - reaching DDR636 in our DFI test bed. This was achieved at the more desirable 1T Command Rate. This level of performance is outstanding, but it is definitely worth noting that OCZ TCCD at DDR636 2.5-4-3-7 performance is roughly equivalent to OCZ VX Gold at 10x267 2-2-2-6. This is particularly interesting, since the CPU speed at 318x9 is 2.86GHz compared to 2.67GHz at 267x10.

OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev.2 performs very well as the representative of fast TCCD memory. We checked results with G. Skill TCCD and achieved close to the same performance as OCZ with stable performance at DDR630 (315). This represents the kinds of normal variations that you will find in top-performing memory at the highest performance levels.

As impressive as DDR636 sounds, fast memory timings and a fast memory chip can offset both a higher memory speed and a slightly higher CPU speed. The best TCCD can perform just as well as VX, but it required DDR636 and a 119 MHz faster speed to match OCZ VX at 2-2-2-6 timings.