Test Results: OCZ 3500EB

To test overclocked stability, we used the very demanding Gun Metal 2 - Benchmark 2, which pushes systems with its DX9 routines. To be considered stable for test purposes, Gun Metal, our Quake3 benchmark, UT2003 Demo, Super PI, Halo, and Comanche 4 had to complete without incident. Any of these, and in particular Super PI and Gun Metal, will crash a less-than stable memory configuration.

OCZ 3500EB (DDR433) - 2 x 512MB Double-Bank
Speed Memory Timings & Voltage Quake3 fps Sandra UNBuffered Sandra Standard Buffered Super PI 2M places
(time in sec)
400DDR
800FSB
2.5-2-3-5
2.5V
322.2 INT 2735
FLT 2782
INT 4456
FLT 4459
131
433DDR
866FSB
2.5-2-3-5
2.65V
350.4 INT 3009
FLT 3018
INT 4856
FLT 4867
121
466DDR
933FSB
3-2-3-5
2.65V
376.5 INT 3216
FLT 3241
INT 5204
FLT 5215
113
500DDR
1000FSB
3-2-3-5
2.85V
403.3 INT 3457
FLT 3501
INT 5580
FLT 5586
104
510DDR
1020FSB
3-2-3-6
2.85V
408.1 INT 3516
FLT 3557
INT 5715
FLT 5718
102

At DDR433, OCZ 3500EB clearly meets its specifications. We were able to run our complete memory test suite at the SPD timings with no problem. We did achieve the best performance on the Intel test bed, however, with the lowest Cycle Time (tRAS) that we could run. Therfore, the best performance on an Intel chipset was with the lowest possible tRAS, which is reported in the chart.

It is also worth mentioning that OCZ 3500EB was completely stable at 2.5-2-3 timings to DDR460. Above 460, we needed to raise our CAS setting to CAS 3 for most stable performance. However, across the DDR400 to DDR510 range we were able to maintain a tRP (RAS Precharge) of 2, and a tRCD (RAS-to-Cas Delay) value of 3.

Performance Test Configuration Performance Comparisons
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  • Pumpkinierre - Sunday, April 11, 2004 - link

    Still waiting for my OCZ IC7 link Wesley
  • TrogdorJW - 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.

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