OCZ 3500EB: The Importance of Balanced Memory Timings
by Wesley Fink on April 7, 2004 12:04 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Test Results: Memory Timings & Bandwidth Comparison
Our standard memory tests allowed comparison of OCZ 3500EB to other memory tested at AnandTech, but the charts do not clearly show what is happening with timings and bandwidth with EB memory. Using the same data in a different way illustrates better the impact of Enhanced Bandwidth on performance.We took a closer look at the test results from six currently available memories that have been top performers in our benchmarks. If you look closely at the memory timings, you will see that while OCZ 3500EB was at CAS 2.5 at DDR400, all the other 5 memories managed CAS 2. By DDR433, the 3500EB was still at CAS 2.5 and the Mushkin BH6, OCZ 3700 Gold Rev.2, and Kingmax DDR500 were still at CAS 2.
| Memory Timings | ||||||
| Speed | OCZ 3500EB | Mushkin 3200 2-2-2 Special | OCZ 3700 Rev. 2 | Kingmax DDR500 | Corsair XMS4000 PRO | OCZ 4200EL |
| 400DDR 800FSB |
2.5-2-3-5 2.5V |
2-2-2-5 2.65V |
2-2-3-5 2.65V |
2-2-2-5 2.5V |
2-3-3-5 2.65V |
2-3-3-5 2.55V |
| 433DDR 866FSB |
2.5-2-3-5 2.65V |
2-2-3-5 2.75V |
2-2-3-6 2.65V |
2-2-3-6 2.5V |
Not Tested | Not Tested |
| 466DDR 933FSB |
3-2-3-5 2.65V |
NA | 2.5-3-3-6 2.65V |
2.5-2-3-7 2.5V |
Not Tested | Not Tested |
| 500DDR 1000FSB |
3-2-3-5 2.85V |
NA | 2.5-3-3-7 2.75V |
2.5-3-3-7 2.5V |
2.5-3-4-6 2.75V |
2.5-3-4-6 2.65V |
| Highest Speed |
3-2-3-6 510 - 2.85V |
2-2-3-7 454 - 2.85V |
3-3-4-8 520 - 2.85V |
3-3-4-8 528 - 2.85V |
3-3-4-7 539 - 2.85V |
3-3-4-7 560 - 2.85V |
Yet, if we look at the bandwidth results from SiSoft Sandra Unbuffered Memory Test, the OCZ 3500EB is neck-and-neck with the CAS 2 Mushkin 3200 and OCZ3700 Gold Rev.2 by the time we reach DDR433. At DDR466 and DDR500, the EB is at CAS 3, while all 5 of the competing top memories are at CAS 2.5. Yet the EB outperforms ALL of the other 5 memories at DDR500 despite requiring the slower CAS 3 timing. It is worth mentioning that RAS Precharge remains at 2, and Ras-to-Cas delay remains at 3, throughout the stable bandwidth of OCZ 3500EB.
| Sandra 2004 Unbuffered Bandwidth | ||||||
| Speed | OCZ 3500EB | Mushkin 3200 2-2-2 Special | OCZ 3700 Rev. 2 | Kingmax DDR500 | Corsair XMS4000 PRO | OCZ 4200EL |
| 400DDR | 2759 | 2907 | 2898 | 2911 | 2840 | 2834 |
| 433DDR | 3014 | 3013 | 3091 | 3042 | - | - |
| 454 | - | 3280 | - | - | - | - |
| 466DDR | 3229 | - | 3301 | 3267 | - | - |
| 500DDR | 3484 | - | 3443 | 3365 | 3297 | 3371 |
| 510 | 3537 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 520 | - | - | 3493 | - | - | - |
| 528 | - | - | - | 3501 | - | - |
| 539 | - | - | - | - | 3551 | - |
| 560 | - | - | - | - | - | 3729 |
Looking at the memory bandwidth patterns, OCZ 3500EB is competitive at DDR400 with faster CAS memory, but it is still outperformed. However, by the time we reach DDR433 to DDR466 range, EB is neck-and-neck with the best memory that we tested. By DDR500, EB is the fastest memory that we have yet tested. It appears that EB gets better and better, the higher the bandwidth. It is also interesting that at its highest speed of DDR510, 3500EB has a greater bandwidth than OCZ 3700 R2 at DDR520, Kingmax DDR500 at DDR528, and is about the same as Corsair XMS4000 PRO at DDR539. It appears, at DDR510, that OCZ 3500EB is showing the same bandwidth we find with the best memory we have tested at about DDR540.
OCZ 3500EB was also designed for maximum compatibility with the wide variety of motherboards and chipsets available for Intel and AMD processors. The board used in our memory test bed is known to be one of the most compatible boards with a wide variety of memory, which is one of the reasons why we use the Asus P4C800-E. However, not all boards are as accommodating of different memory, as we often see in our motherboard memory test section. OCZ tells us that one of the major goals in the design of 3500EB was to provide the widest compatibility with the widest range of motherboards. This includes current Athlon 64 chipsets, some of which have proven to have problems with memory timings on current high-end memory.
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Pumpkinierre - Sunday, April 11, 2004 - link
Still waiting for my OCZ IC7 link WesleyTrogdorJW - Thursday, April 8, 2004 - link
bldkc... Not really. Only people overclocking their CPUs to extreme highs are pushing memory at the 500+ MHz range. The fastest official speeds are still DDR400, and DDR2 will probably be necessary before we gain official support for DDR466 and/or DDR533. I'm just waiting for DDR666.... eeeevil! Oh, wait, they'll call it DDR667 to appease the Bible thumpers.On a tangent, I'm an active Christian, and I find this "fear" of 666 to be rather absurd. "The number of the beast shall be six hundred sixty-six." Yeah, and the beast is apparently some computer part... or it would be if we had a 666 MHz CPU/RAM/Bus/whatever. Okay, on with life....
bldkc - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
It wasn't long ago that we were asking the Processor Gods when they were going to catch up to the RAM Gods and use all that big bandwidth they were selling. Well here we are. Now we must pray that the Ram Gods will treat us kindly, and return the favor.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
Adul -I will include some Athlon 64 results in an upcoming A64 board review. I did check compatibility with A64, which was excellent even on VIA K8T800, which can be very picky about memory and timings. Also took a brief look at A64 performance, and found best performance timings on A64 nF3 were 2.5-2-3-9 as mentioned in the review.
RyanVM - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
And what if due to past transgressions, many (including myself) still don't trust anything OCZ puts their name on?Adul - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
Any chance to get some test results on a Athlon 64 wes?grunjee - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
Where the heck can I get some of this stuff??? Been looking and haven't been able to find any.Great review btw Wesley.
bigtoe33 - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
I have an unbuffered available on bleedinedge forum.http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=...
this shows turbo enabled on an IC7.
Spacecomber - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
I was left wondering if you would see the same benefit from the enhanced bandwidth with Athlon Systems as you do with the Pentium 4 system that was used in the benchmarks.I've gathered that the rule of thumb is that Pentium 4s enjoy all the memory bandwidth that you can feed them, while Athlon XP systems are less bandwidth starved and do better with the lowest latencies you can run.
So, I'm wondering if this new OCZ memory will be of most benefit to people running Pentium 4 systems, especially overclocked 800MHz systems, but less (if any advantage) to Athlon users. I also wonder if there is any difference in benefits between an Athlon 64 and the regular Athlon with this memory, for that matter.
These are the kind of practical questions I'm still left with after reading the article. On the other hand, the article gets high praise for bringing this new memory to our attention.
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
Pumkinierre -Our memory test bed is the Asus P4C800-E, and we have not tested EB on the Abit IC7. However, OCZ Tech Support tells us they achieve even better benchmark results with EB on the Abit IC7. I will try to provide a link to their test results on the IC7 later today.