Memory Scaling on Haswell CPU, IGP and dGPU: DDR3-1333 to DDR3-3000 Tested with G.Skill
by Ian Cutress on September 26, 2013 4:00 PM ESTFor our single discrete GPU testing, rather than the 7970s which normally adorn my test beds (and were being used for other testing), I plumped for one of the HD 6950 cards I have. This ASUS DirectCU II card I purchased pre-flashed to 6970 specifications, giving a little more oomph. Typically discrete GPU options are not often cited as growth areas of memory testing, however we will let the results speak for themselves.
Dirt 3: Average FPS
Dirt 3 commonly benefits from boosts in both CPU and GPU power, showing near-perfect scaling in multi-GPU configurations. When using our HD6950 however there seems to be little difference between memory settings with no trend.
Dirt 3: Minimum FPS
Minimum frame rates show a different story – Dirt 3 seems to prefer setups with a lower CL – MHz does not seem to have any effect.
Bioshock Infinite: Average FPS
Single GPU frame rates for Bioshock has no direct effect for memory changes with less than 2% covering our range of tests.
Bioshock Infinite: Minimum FPS
One big sink in frame rates seems to be for 1333 C7, although given that C8 and C9 do not have this effect, I would presume that this is more a statistical outlier than an obvious trend.
Tomb Raider: Average FPS
Again, we see no obvious trend in average frame rates for a discrete GPU.
Tomb Raider: Minimum FPS
While minimum frame rates for Tomb Raider seem to have a peak (1600 C8) and a sink (2400 C12), this looks to be an exception rather than the norm, with minimum frame rates typically showing 35.8 – 36.0 FPS.
Sleeping Dogs: Average FPS
Frame rates for Sleeping Dogs vary between 49.3 FPS and 49.6 FPS, showing no distinct improvement for certain memory timings.
Sleeping Dogs: Minimum FPS
The final discrete GPU test shows a small 5% difference from 1600 C11 to 2400 C11, although other kits perform roughly in the middle.
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Nagorak - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
Why did memory prices fluctuate so much since the end of last year and now? The Hynix fire looks to have next to no impact, but the price of memory has nearly doubled since last November/December.aryonoco - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
Ian, I do not want to disparage your work, please take this as nothing but constructive criticism. You do amazing work and the wealth of technical expertise is very clear in your articles.But you have a terrible writing style. There are so many sentences in your articles that while technically grammatically correct, are the most awkward ways of saying what you mean. Take a very simple sentence: "In terms of real world usage, on our Haswell platform, there are some recommendations to be made." There are so many ways, much simpler, much cleaner, much shorter to say what you said in that sentence.
I really struggle with your writing style. I know journalism isn't really your day job and you have a lot of important things to attend to, but please, if you care about this side job of yours as a technical writer, being technical is only half the story. Please consider improving your writing style to make it more readable.
Bob Todd - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link
I'd wager most of the readers didn't struggle as mightily as you. If you want to critique another's wordsmithery, you might want to find a classier way to do it. Our first exhibit will be sentence one of paragraph two. Surely you could have strung together a couple of words that got your point across without sounding like an ass?Impulses - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that starting a sentence with a But is something you'd typically avoid...Dustin Sklavos - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link
"You have a terrible writing style."Constructive!
How would you like it if someone came to your place of business and told you "Look, I don't mean to disparage your work, but it makes my cat's hair fall out in clumps."
ingwe - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link
Yep. This definitely wasn't constructive.Ian, I don't see anything wrong with your writing, and I would rather you concentrate on getting articles out than on spending lots of extra time on editing your work.
jaded1592 - Sunday, September 29, 2013 - link
Your first sentence is grammatically incorrect. Stones and glass houses...Sivar - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
What a great article. Tons of actual data, and the numerous charts weren't stupidly saved as JPG. I love Anandtech.soccerballtux - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
so bandwidth starved apps with predictable data requests (h264 p1) really like it but when the CPU has enough data to crunch (winrar) the lower real-world latency time in seconds is worth having.gandergray - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
Ian: Thank you for the excellent article. You provide in depth and thorough analysis. Your article will undoubtedly serve as a frequently referenced guide.