LR & Corsair Break The 1GHz DDR2 Memory Barrier
Testing/Performance
Test System:
- Intel P4 630, 840, 3.73 EE — Intel D955XBK (Intel 955X), 1GB (2x512MB) Corsair PC5400UL @ DDR2 1000MHz (5-5-5-15), Geforce 6800GT 256mb (Forceware 71.84), 120GB Seagate SATA150 HDD, Windows XP w/SP2 and DX9C.
Everest Version 2.00.300 Beta:
Everst 2.0 is a professional system information, diagnostics and benchmarking program for Win32 platforms. It extracts details of all components of the PC. It also tests the actual read and write speeds of your memory giving a fairly accurate look of true memory performance.
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At DDR2-667 with 3-2-2-8 timings our read score was 5988MB/Sec on the same exact system. As expected running DDR2-1000 increases the bandwidth.
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Again on Everest we see a slight bump up from the default score of 2249MB/Sec
Futuremark; PCMark04 v1.3.0:
PCMark04 is an application-based benchmark and a premium tool for measuring overall PC performance. It uses portions of real applications instead of including very large applications or using specifically created code. This allows PCMark04 to be a smaller installation as well as to report very accurate results. As much as possible, PCMark04 uses public domain applications whose source code can be freely examined by any user.
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Nathan Kirsch’s Thoughts:
When I hit 1GHz on the memory I was actually shocked how easily it was done and the fact an Intel reference board was used. Usually the Intel reference boards are not known to be good overclocking boards, but that is not the case on the latest i955X boards. The new memory controller design that is being used on the Intel 955X Express Chipset is by far better for overclocking that then one seen on the i925X and i925XE boards. The Intel reference board (D955XBK) only allows voltage options up to 2.08V, but talking to tier one motherboard makers it seems as if most of the retail enthusiast boards will go up to at least 2.2V on the DIMM’s. I imagine that as the enthusiast boards start to hit the retail market seeing overclockers reach DDR2 1000Mhz will be something that is expected. We Kingston and Corsair Memory with our testing results and neither were able to say they broke 1GHz DDR2 to date. Both companied were enthusiastic to hear that we broke 1000MHz and can’t wait to get the retail boards to the lab to begin making new speed grades!
On another note, the Corsair XMS2-5400UL modules look to be great overclockers. This is partly due to the use of the new “fat body” Micron D9 IC’s being used. I have a feeling that the recent D9’s might be the IC to have when it comes overclocking DDR2 memory. I was able to reach 5-4-4-10 timings at 1GHz, but it was unstable under benchmarking conditions. Corsair Memory once again proves why they are “the memory with muscle”, by being the first company used to break the 1GHz memory barrier. Kudos!
Feel free to voice your comments in the forums. Also if you have any benchmark results that are close to 1GHz I’d like to see them, so post them up! Let’s start the 1GHz memory club!
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