Performance Test Configuration
The six 2GB kits were tested with the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR Athlon 64 Socket 939 motherboard. Other components remain the same as used in the memory setup in Athlon 64 Memory: Rewriting the Rules.
The A64 test bed includes components that have been proven in Socket 939 Athlon 64 benchmarking, such as the Socket 939 90nm 4000+, the OCZ Power Stream 520 Power Supply, and the NVIDIA 7800 GTX video card. We used an AMD 4000+ 90nm processor with a Revision E type memory controller. All other basic test conditions attempted to mirror those used in our earlier Athlon 64 memory reviews.
Since the video card, and platform/video drivers are upgraded from past memory testing, we found that the results were not completely consistent with past memory test results. For that reason, we retested the three 2GB kits that were previously tested. Results are still broadly comparable to past memory test results in earlier reviews, but we decided to include just the nine 2GB kit results in this roundup.
As discussed in other memory reviews, we ran a complete set of Memtest86 benchmarks with only tRAS varied to determine the best tRAS setting for these memories on the nForce4 chipset. The NVIDIA nForce4 has the best bandwidth at tRAS settings ranging from 5 to 8. Therefore, a tRAS setting of 7 was used for testing.
Test Settings
All AMD Athlon 64 processors are unlocked downward, and the FX CPUs are unlocked up and down. This feature allows a different approach to memory testing, which truly measures performance differences in memory speed alone. All tests were run with CPU speed as close to the specified 2.4GHz of the 4000+ as possible, with CPU speed/Memory Speed increased at lower multipliers to achieve 2.4 GHz. This approach allows the true measurement of the impact of higher memory speed and timings on performance, since CPU speed is fixed, removing CPU speed as a factor in memory performance.
The following settings were tested with the six 2GB kits on the DFI nF4 test bed:
The six 2GB kits were tested with the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR Athlon 64 Socket 939 motherboard. Other components remain the same as used in the memory setup in Athlon 64 Memory: Rewriting the Rules.
The A64 test bed includes components that have been proven in Socket 939 Athlon 64 benchmarking, such as the Socket 939 90nm 4000+, the OCZ Power Stream 520 Power Supply, and the NVIDIA 7800 GTX video card. We used an AMD 4000+ 90nm processor with a Revision E type memory controller. All other basic test conditions attempted to mirror those used in our earlier Athlon 64 memory reviews.
Since the video card, and platform/video drivers are upgraded from past memory testing, we found that the results were not completely consistent with past memory test results. For that reason, we retested the three 2GB kits that were previously tested. Results are still broadly comparable to past memory test results in earlier reviews, but we decided to include just the nine 2GB kit results in this roundup.
| AMD nForce4 Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD 4000+ Athlon 64(90nm) 2.4GHz, Socket 939, 1 MB cache, Dual Channel, 1000HT |
| RAM: | TWINX2048-4000PT (DS) 2X1GB Crucial Ballistix CLIII5N.32 (DS) 2X1GB G. Skill F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX (DS) 2X1GB KHX3200AK2/2G (DS) 2X1GB Mushkin 2GB Redline XP4000 (DS) 2X1GB Team XTreem TXDR 1024M400HC2 (DS) 2X1GB Corsair TWINX2048-3500XL PRO (DS) 2X1GB Gigaram 2GB Dual Channel PC-4200 (DS) 2X1GB OCZ PC4000 2x1024MB EB Platinum (DS) 2X1GB |
| Hard Drives: | Seagate 120GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB Cache |
| PCI/AGP Speed: | Fixed at 33/66 |
| Bus Master Drivers: | NVIDIA nForce Platform Driver 6.70 |
| Video Card(s): | NVIDIA 7800 GTX 256MB PCIe, 256MB aperture, 1024x768x32 |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA Forceware 81.98 Release |
| Power Supply: | OCZ Power Stream 520W |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
| Motherboard: | DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR |
| BIOS: | 7/06/2005 |
As discussed in other memory reviews, we ran a complete set of Memtest86 benchmarks with only tRAS varied to determine the best tRAS setting for these memories on the nForce4 chipset. The NVIDIA nForce4 has the best bandwidth at tRAS settings ranging from 5 to 8. Therefore, a tRAS setting of 7 was used for testing.
Test Settings
All AMD Athlon 64 processors are unlocked downward, and the FX CPUs are unlocked up and down. This feature allows a different approach to memory testing, which truly measures performance differences in memory speed alone. All tests were run with CPU speed as close to the specified 2.4GHz of the 4000+ as possible, with CPU speed/Memory Speed increased at lower multipliers to achieve 2.4 GHz. This approach allows the true measurement of the impact of higher memory speed and timings on performance, since CPU speed is fixed, removing CPU speed as a factor in memory performance.
The following settings were tested with the six 2GB kits on the DFI nF4 test bed:
- 2.4GHz-12x200/DDR400 - the highest stock memory speed supported on nF3-4/SiS755-FX/ATI Radeon Xpress 200/VIA 939 motherboards
- 2.4GHz-11x218/DDR436 - a ratio near the standard DDR433 speed
- 2.4GHz-10x240/DDR480 - a ratio near the standard rating of DDR466
- 2.4GHz-9x267/DDR533 - a memory speed achieved by only a few top memories on the Athlon 64
- 2.4GHz-8x300/DDR600 - with recent improvements in OC abilities, a very few memories can reach this next multiple with the 8 multiplier
- Highest Memory Performance - the highest memory bandwidth and game performance that we could achieve with the memory being tested. This is the highest memory speed that we could achieve with 1T Command Rate.
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JarredWalton - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
I don't anticipate DDR1 prices changing much, and once AM2 comes out I expect prices to start climbing as DDR1 productions halts. DDR1 prices seem to have hit bottom about 6 months ago, and they're already starting to rise - at least on the budget parts.Thor86 - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
Did I miss this in the review? If not, it would help if you told us what memory settings used in the DFI bios for these sticks reviewed.Wesley Fink - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - link
I used the 7/06 BIOS, which is basically the Bigtoe BIOS. I have found this BIOS to be remarkably compatible with a wide range of memory. All memory settings were left at default except the 4 reported memory timings (CAS to TRAS) and memory voltage in testing all the memory. We did not do any special tweaking, which is another reason we reran tests with the 3 2GB kits tested earlier. You can definitely achieve better bandwidth and higher scores than we did by tweaking memory in the DFI BIOS.keldog7 - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
I was surprised to find your review stating the Corsair 3500LL could only reach 492 MHz...especially when out of the box, I clocked mine to 500 MHz. This required no special tweaking of the other timings, other than what's listed below. Any careful research on this memory, using the many online reviews of it, show that the RAM runs fine (at slightly relaxed timings), well into 500Mhz territory, and beyond.In my case, I've got it on an A8N32SLI, at 2.7V, running 2.5-3-2-7 1T with a 1:1 divider at 250Mhz. In my case, this has been verfied to be Memtest86+ stable for at least 12 hours (last run was 90 hours...then I had to stop it to actually get some work done!)
I wonder if the motherboard used in your review has biased your overclocking results?
Wesley Fink - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
According to my review notes, the Corsair 3500LL Pro cloked to almost 260 (DDR520) on Super Pi and Sandra memory tests, but the highest we could do with stability on 3D tests was 246 (DDR492). There is always varaition in memory results.Since you criticize my results as being too low for your memory and another reader criticized my results as being too high for his memory, it is likely my results are typical of the range of results readers might achieve. Some will do better than my results and some will do worse. Overclocking results do vary among memory samples.
wildstaroct - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
Unless Anandtech got really good batches of Infineon ICs, I don't buy the analysis. There have been numerous reports of 3D instability issues...I've experienced them myself with the Redlines. They are primex2 and memtest stable at fairly high speeds (270) but only 3D stable near spec (250ish).entrecote - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link
Neither do i buy it.I invested in a pair of the mentioned 2GB Mushkin Redline PC4000 memory. I´ve stubbornly been trying to tweak them on my DFI Lanparty + X2 Toledo processor for two months. This Redline kit of mine refuses to surpass 252MHz / DDR504. One module does 256MHz / DDR512, the other one does 252MHz / DDR504 regardless of timings. Trust me, I´ve tried all combinations of different drive strenghts, Trefs and so on. My case is not isolated, I have the same symptoms as the perhaps majority of 2x1GB Redline owners, "3D instability".
My thoughts on the matter is that Mushkin was aware of this bad batch of theirs, possibly due to quality fluctuations of infineon modules. Then they quickly began to separate a few review samples for marketing puposes. I went through the same dissapointment one year ago when buying PC3200 Ballistixs after quickly reading through among other reviews anadtechs infamous "Ballistix cherry pick" DDR roundup.
I put great trust in anandtech, please do me a favor in the future to only review retail samples of memory. Some of these mentioned brands purposefully send special samples to rewievers.
Wesley Fink - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
We reported what we found, and 3D tests are part of our benchmarking. The OCZ for example was Super Pi and memtest stable to 290, but 3D dropped the stability to 275 (DDR550) which we reported. The Redline went well over 300 on memtest and Super Pi, but 293 (DDR586) was our highest 3D stable.What memory controller revision are you using with the Infineons? Our tests are with a Rev. E, and we have seen lower performance on the older clawhammer memory controllers with the 1GB dimms.
wildstaroct - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
I have a rev E6 Opteron 170. Perhaps I just got an unlucky set of sticks, but the forums are loaded w/ people with similar issues, particularly around 3D.Duonger - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
the mushkin parts have been back in stock for over a week now and is available (if not sold out already) on Newegg and on Mushkin`s Site.Wes- the ocz parts u compared. those are 2x512mb kits. why did u include it on this 2gig round up?