Corsair PC2-6400C3 Meets AMD’s AM2 Processors

DDR2 667MHz or DDR2 800MHz??

One of the first tests we ran on our AMD AM2 test system was running the memory at 667MHz and 800MHz, which are the two most common frequencies that these platforms will support. We ran Sandra, Everest, Super Pi, and Doom 3 each five times and took the average of the five runs to show performance differences. Both of the memory kits were run at 4-4-4-12 1T timings at stock voltages on our AMD AM2 4800+ processor.

The results show that 800MHz leads in bandwidth and again in performance benchmarks like Super Pi and the game DOOM 3. Just for fun we ran an AMD AM2 4800+ processor at 800MHz CL4 versus an AMD AM2 5000+ processor at 667MHz CL4 and the results were shocking. The 5000+ with it’s lower memory frequency ran DOOM 3 at 145.05 frames per seoncd on average. The 4800+ with it’s ‘true’ memory frequency ran DOOM 3 on average at 148.8 frames per second. Yes, the 200MHz processor with memory running a faster frequency makes that big of a difference. If you’re going to spend the $737 on a 5000+ or any other processor be sure to get at least 800MHz memory because it makes a huge difference on these platforms. Moving from 667MHz to 800MHz resulted in an 11.6% performance boost for DOOM 3 alone.

Now that we know 800MHz is the only way to go on AM2 let’s take a look at memory timings.