Searching for the Memory Holy Grail - Part 2
by Wesley Fink on August 26, 2003 11:11 PM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Final Words
All of the modules that we tested performed very well at DDR500. If you plan to only run your new DDR500 at rated speed, then any of the memory we tested will meet your needs: Adata PC4000, Corsair XMS4000, Geil Platinum 4000, Kingston HyperX 4000, OCZ 4000, and OCZ 3700 Gold. Keep in mind that your CPU must be capable of running at a raw 250FSB or 1000FSB to run your memory at DDR500. The higher-speed Pentium 4 CPUs — the 2.8C, 3.0C, or 3.2C — cannot usually reach this bus speed and you will likely be running your memory at less than DDR500 speed. Many 2.4C and 2.6C CPUs that we have tested can run at DDR500. The new DDR500 memory is an excellent match for these processors.
Among the DDR500 group, the very different behavior of 2 Single-Bank Kingston HyperX 4000 compared to 4 Single-Bank would recommend that you buy four single-sided modules for best performance and overclocking if you choose single-bank modules for DDR500.
At DDR500 and DDR400, the fastest memory performance was found with OCZ 3700 Gold, because the memory supports faster timings than other memory tested here. The OCZ 3700 Gold ran at very fast 2-2-3-6 timings at DDR400, but still overclocked to DDR528 at 2.5-3-4-7 timings at 2.85V. For faster P4s, the OCZ is an excellent choice that will give you the headroom for the best overclock possible with your CPU, while still providing faster timings for the DDR400 range. Kingston and Adata also performed well with fast timings at DDR400, and would also be good choices for a higher-speed Pentium 4. The Adata PC4000 is selling at very low prices compared to the premium brands that we tested here; and while it is not the best overclocker, it certainly does perform to DDR500 and beyond. Adata is, however, difficult to find in the US.
The modules using Hynix memory were the best performers at the very highest speeds. Corsair, OCZ and Geil were all at the top of the performance charts from DDR500 to the highest overclock that they could achieve. But the top two here — OCZ 4000 and Geil Platinum 4000 — reached significantly higher overclocks than Corsair and turned in the highest performance numbers in our round-up.
You will find variation in performance of memory modules, and thus, we cannot guarantee that your memory purchase will achieve the same performance levels as stated in this review. However, we are truly astounded by the ability of OCZ 4000 Copper to perform at DDR 552, the fastest memory that we have tested thus far. If your CPU can handle a raw 275 bus speed (and a few can), then OCZ 4000 will provide synchronous memory performance at levels that we could only imagine a short time ago.
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dshodson - Friday, September 5, 2003 - link
So what is the best memory to put in my new dell server coming in a week which has the 875 chip. I heard u cant really overclock this system although i havent received mine yet.Anonymous User - Tuesday, September 2, 2003 - link
Sorry about the typos ( its 11:36 PM here )Thanks
OCZGUY
Anonymous User - Tuesday, September 2, 2003 - link
Uberclocker ,If your having a problem with a OCZ part , email me directly , Most problems are related it simple setup issues , and your problem is verry likely fixed in a few simple steps , or with a bios update
My email is oczguy@ocztechnology.com
I will not like answer your email until tomorow ( tuesday ) as today is a holiday and I am not in the office today
Thanks
OCZGUY
Anonymous User - Monday, September 1, 2003 - link
Hello, I have followd your recommendation and bought an OCZ 4000 in Germany, this weekend. Unfortunately it has not performed to its specification. Can you tell me if there is a special part number I should look for to get their special 'reviewers golden sample' ?UberClocker
Anonymous User - Saturday, August 30, 2003 - link
I think if you have a cpu that will do 250 FSB and you purchase memory based on this article and you get within 98% of the results posted in this article, you owe Wesley $10.00. If 20% of the people with favorable results donated, there would be no more need to advertise. Now for the people who did not purchase ram based on this article and are bitching about it being bias, what are you bitching for?. This article has not cost you a cent.Thanks Wesley, you saved me a $100 on ram. I almost got caught up in all the hype about 4000 and 4200.
Fossil
Anonymous User - Saturday, August 30, 2003 - link
This article goes part way to answering the question of what memory configuration is fastest but I was disappointed that there was no variation in ratio.I would like to see a review that tests agressive timings against high frequency to see what produces the best results.
Also a test of all P4C chips running @ 3.6Ghz to see whether there's any benefit in buying the fastest chip.
With most motherboards easily hitting 1Ghz are we likely to be seeing a P4D which supports a 1066Mhz FSB?
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
I think the way to do these reviews is to tell the manufacturer you'd like to include them in a review, purchase the memory from a store you trust, and then get re-imbursed by the manufacturer. That way, there'd be no selected modules and you would know what you were going to put into the review (4 ss vs 2 ds).So, when do we get that part 2 of the 865/875 mobo roundup ?
retrospooty - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
Wesley,I have run these tests myself on an IC7G at 200 , 230 250 and 280 FSB and found that 5:4 2-2-2 always beats 1:1 at 2.5-4-4, even 2.5 4-3 ... However SOME motherboards arent as efficient at 5:4 with some types of ram as others... If you try the same test on several different mobo's I think you will find that 5:4 2-2-2 is quite a bit faster in non-synthetic mem test benchmarks.
Oldfart # 64, you are right about the reviewers and using the synthetic tests to boost sales. good point.
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
If your not going to overclock, get low latency pc 3200 or 3500, the PC4000 wont help you at alleven IF you ARE going to overclock, the PC4000 will not likely get you better performance.
Anonymous User - Friday, August 29, 2003 - link
#67 I'm not an expert by any means but here is how I understand this discussion:If you are planning to use one of the faster processors such as the 3.0C you won't be able to achieve a big overclock because the multiplier for that processor is 15. If you want to use a higher speed processor such as the 2.8C or the 3.0c, you really dont need to spend the money on faster memory such as the PC4000 because you probably won't be able to overclock to a point that you will be able to reach a front side bus speed of 250mhz which is the lowest rated speed (x2=ddr500) of the memory module. So as the article has explained,you would be better off with
slower ram that has faster timings. However, if you have a slower processor such as the 2.4C or the 2.6C, you should be able to achieve a higher overclock because these processors have lower multipliers. In this case you would need faster ram such as the PC4000, because with these processors many have been able to set their front side bus up to and beyond 250mhz. In most scenarios with fast processors/slower ram vs slower processors/faster ram, IMHO, the performance difference may be fairly equal. What is really happening is a cost/benefit consideration. As always be careful!!! Overclocking can damage your system...you do it at your own risk!