Searching for the Memory Holy Grail - Part 2
by Wesley Fink on August 26, 2003 11:11 PM EST- Posted in
- Memory
We looked for the best performing memory configuration for the 865/875 motherboard in Part 1 of “Searching for the Memory Holy Grail”. In Part 2, we will benchmark the latest high-speed memory, DDR500 and DDR466, to determine how it performs on the Intel 865/875 platform.
When Part 1 was published a few weeks ago, the fastest memory that we had tested was a DDR466 module called OCZ 3700 Gold. It was the first memory we tested to pass the DDR500 mark, which represents a raw bus speed of 250. Since the Pentium 4 bus is quad-pumped, that translates to a Front Side Bus of 1000MHz or ONE GHz — a milestone in FSB speed.
Now, just a few weeks later, we have memory from five manufacturers that claim to run at DDR500. We have even seen a recent announcement from Geil of PC4200 (DDR533) memory. Intel legitimized DDR400 with the 875/865 chipsets, and that is now an official JEDEC standard. These faster memories, however, are basically built to DDR400 specifications, and then tested by their manufacturers to run at the much faster DDR500 speed. There is no official standard yet for DDR500, but all of the manufacturers seem to be using the 875/865 chipset motherboards to verify their high-speed performance. Frankly, there is no real need for DDR500 on the current fastest AMD chipsets — the nForce2 Ultra 400 and VIA KT600 — since neither the chipsets nor the Athlon CPUs have shown any capability of reaching DDR500 performance levels. While this may change with the introduction of Athlon64, the DDR500 and high-speed memory phenomenon is, for now, an Intel chipset playground — primarily related to the Intel 875/865 chipsets.
Things are organized a bit differently in our Part 2 of “Searching for the Memory Holy Grail”. We were forced to modify our testbed in order to better test the performance of the new DDR500 modules. We also added Game performance and Number Crunching benchmarks to Sandra UNBuffered Memory Test to confirm results with real-world benchmarks.
Armed with the fastest memory available from Adata, Corsair, Geil, Kingston, and OCZ, our quest is to find the best performing memory for your Canterwood (875) or Springdale (865) computer.
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Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
#12: You are completely wrong. OCZ IS A PAID ADVERTISER. You should follow your own advice and look more carefully at the sponsored links.Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
it has been going downhill for a longtime. fewer updates,less contentAnonymous User - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
I totally agree with #14. Anandtech is just going down hill. It's funny how even though you say OCZ isn't any sort of advertiser that it's name is plastered all over the site and you always proclaim it better.You are pleasing the people that your advertisers are pimping. Simple economics. Please the folks that are advertising the product because you are giving it such high ratings.
Only blind people can't see what's going on. Business is business. I bet if you gave Corsair the high honor's then these so called Atacom people would be promoting Corsair.
Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
"We asked major memory manufacturers to supply DDR500 or the fastest memory that they had available for comparison in our High-Speed memory roundup."That is rather disappointing. The incentive for manufacturers to cherry-pick modules for review on a site as influential as Anandtech is simply to great to be ignored.
Otherwise, a very nicely done review.
Icewind - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
Meh, my 3700 Corsair is doing plenty well for me. Rather spend the money on a 5900 Ultra that will make more of a difference in my systemKristopherKubicki - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
#11: OCZ is not a paid advertiser. If you pay attention to those links, you'll see its companies like ATACOM, Newegg, and SVC promoting OCZ memory. If you do not feel comfortable with OCZ, then I would suggest not using those merchants.Kristopher
Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
What do you know... Another of their "PAID ADVERTISER" wins out again! This site has become nothing but pimping their fricken advertisers. Who believes the spew that has come from this site lately? Ever since the OBVIOUS BS review of the GeForce FX 5900. This site lost all credibility.Whoa! What do you know... "Sponsored Links (Get Listed)... And look whose down there. OCZ... Blah! This site is nothing about padding the pockets.
Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
^^^ huh?Anyway, great review Wes, you rock!
Anonymous User - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
oh bleh.. all of a sudden i feel... not coolWesley Fink - Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - link
4 chips per side is single-bank memory. It behaves like single-sided.