Final Words
Many seem confused as to whether it is best to use the fast 512MB DDR DIMMs or the now readily available 1GB DIMMs in their Athlon 64 system. Until recently, we advised buyers to go for the fast 512MB DIMMs, since those 2-2-2 timings on the low-latency A64 on-CPU memory controller usually provided better performance than the slower timings of the 1GB DIMMs. Even the comparison of 4 fast 2T Command Rate 512MB DIMMs versus 2 slower 1GB DIMMs at 1T usually showed that the fast 512MB timings more than offset the 2T penalty of 4 DIMMs.
In Part 1 of the 2GB Kit roundup, it was clear that those rules had changed. The new fast 1GB DIMMs were performing nearly as well as the fastest 512MB DIMMs, and this also made the 1T Command Rate advantage of 2 DIMMs real with 2x1GB DIMMs instead of 4x512MB DIMMs. In that Part 1, we concluded that we could now recommend 2GB kits to end-users. These six new 2GB kits reinforce that conviction - 2 GB has arrived as a real choice for the top-performing systems. All nine 2GB kits sporting a pair of 1GB DIMMs performed very well and with complete stability in our benchmarks. If your needs are fast performance at DDR400 to DDR480, then any of the eight kits based on Infineon B die, C die or Micron memory chips will do the job very well. You can make the selection based on price. If your needs extend to overclocking at DDR550 or beyond, the kits based on Infineon C die or Samsung UCCC will meet your needs. That includes kits rated at DDR500/533 from Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin, OCZ and Gigaram. In this group, the Corsair UCCC value RAM does not perform quite as well as the Infineon-based modules, but at a much lower price with outstanding overclocking, the Samsung is still a great choice where price matters.
There is no doubt that the Crucial Ballistix 2GB bit is the best performing 2GB kit that we have ever tested. However, there are serious questions right now about whether you will be able to even buy this 2GB kit. Crucial tells us that the item is out of stock and they may not be bringing the kit back in stock as they concentrate on DDR2 for the upcoming AMD AM2 launch. End users are reporting that Crucial is telling them the product is End-of-Life and is no longer available. It's a real shame that we can't direct you today to where to buy this excellent memory, and it is even more puzzling that Crucial/Micron may be discontinuing the best 2GB kit that we have ever tested. DDR memory will be useful in AMD platforms for at least another year and a half, and the 2GB Crucial kit would have been a wonderful choice for those who do not plan to migrate to DDR2 when AM2 is launched. We don't even know for sure, at this point, how DDR2 will actually perform with the new AM2 processors.
Whatever the logic, we cannot in good conscious reward a Crucial product that you can't actually buy today. If it were still readily available, it would easily garner our Gold Editor's Choice award, but with no real assurances of continued supply, we can only suggest that you check with Crucial to see if they decide to continue this outstanding 2GB Ballistix kit.
We should also mention that Samsung UCCC 2GB kits are available from OCZ and some other Enthusiast memory manufacturers. The OCZ parts are PC4000 Gold and PC4000GX XTC, and they are about the same price as the Corsair kit. We have not tested either OCZ UCCC, but with the same memory chips, performance should be similar.
All nine of the 2GB DDR kits performed very well in our tests. You should keep in mind, however, that 1GB DIMMs are much more demanding of a memory controller and the motherboard than 512MB parts. For that reason, we would strongly recommend that those who plan high overclocks with 1GB DIMMs use a CPU with a recent Rev. E or better memory controller. The more recent on-chip controllers handle the demands of 1GB memory modules better than older clawhammer controllers.
Last, we will try to answer the question again about whether two 1GB or four 512MB DIMMs are the better choice for Athlon 64 DDR memory. If you plan to install 4GB of memory or upgrade to 4GB in the near future, then 1GB DIMMs are your only choice on current motherboards. There is also no doubt that fast 1GB DIMMs, like eight of the 9 kits tested here, remove the complaint that 1GB DIMMs are slower and will compromise performance compared to fast 512MB DIMMs. There are still a few 512MB DIMMs that top the performance list, but the eight fastest 2GB kits tested here are extremely close to the very best 512MB memory in performance. Even the value Corsair 4000PT was quite close in performance to the other DIMMs and still overclocked well - so price is also no longer a major issue for 1GB DIMMs.
If we were building an AMD Athlon 64 system today, we would definitely choose a 2GB kit for memory. It finally makes sense to choose a 2GB kit and our Editors Choices in this roundup should help in your buying decision. 2GB also makes sense for the OS future. With Vista coming and 2GB, the new memory recommendation for the new OS, you will be set for Vista.
The only real question is whether you really want to invest in 2GB of DDR with AMD DDR2 just around the corner. We don't think that you can possibly lose choosing one of these excellent 2GB kits for your new system build today, but you will need new DDR2 memory for AM2 when it arrives in a few months. What we don't yet know is whether AM2 or the upcoming Intel processors will provide the kind of compelling performance that will make an upgrade to DDR2 a performance enhancing choice for your new system. We look forward to finding answers to this question in the near future.
Many seem confused as to whether it is best to use the fast 512MB DDR DIMMs or the now readily available 1GB DIMMs in their Athlon 64 system. Until recently, we advised buyers to go for the fast 512MB DIMMs, since those 2-2-2 timings on the low-latency A64 on-CPU memory controller usually provided better performance than the slower timings of the 1GB DIMMs. Even the comparison of 4 fast 2T Command Rate 512MB DIMMs versus 2 slower 1GB DIMMs at 1T usually showed that the fast 512MB timings more than offset the 2T penalty of 4 DIMMs.
In Part 1 of the 2GB Kit roundup, it was clear that those rules had changed. The new fast 1GB DIMMs were performing nearly as well as the fastest 512MB DIMMs, and this also made the 1T Command Rate advantage of 2 DIMMs real with 2x1GB DIMMs instead of 4x512MB DIMMs. In that Part 1, we concluded that we could now recommend 2GB kits to end-users. These six new 2GB kits reinforce that conviction - 2 GB has arrived as a real choice for the top-performing systems. All nine 2GB kits sporting a pair of 1GB DIMMs performed very well and with complete stability in our benchmarks. If your needs are fast performance at DDR400 to DDR480, then any of the eight kits based on Infineon B die, C die or Micron memory chips will do the job very well. You can make the selection based on price. If your needs extend to overclocking at DDR550 or beyond, the kits based on Infineon C die or Samsung UCCC will meet your needs. That includes kits rated at DDR500/533 from Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin, OCZ and Gigaram. In this group, the Corsair UCCC value RAM does not perform quite as well as the Infineon-based modules, but at a much lower price with outstanding overclocking, the Samsung is still a great choice where price matters.
There is no doubt that the Crucial Ballistix 2GB bit is the best performing 2GB kit that we have ever tested. However, there are serious questions right now about whether you will be able to even buy this 2GB kit. Crucial tells us that the item is out of stock and they may not be bringing the kit back in stock as they concentrate on DDR2 for the upcoming AMD AM2 launch. End users are reporting that Crucial is telling them the product is End-of-Life and is no longer available. It's a real shame that we can't direct you today to where to buy this excellent memory, and it is even more puzzling that Crucial/Micron may be discontinuing the best 2GB kit that we have ever tested. DDR memory will be useful in AMD platforms for at least another year and a half, and the 2GB Crucial kit would have been a wonderful choice for those who do not plan to migrate to DDR2 when AM2 is launched. We don't even know for sure, at this point, how DDR2 will actually perform with the new AM2 processors.
Whatever the logic, we cannot in good conscious reward a Crucial product that you can't actually buy today. If it were still readily available, it would easily garner our Gold Editor's Choice award, but with no real assurances of continued supply, we can only suggest that you check with Crucial to see if they decide to continue this outstanding 2GB Ballistix kit.
 |
Reviewing 2GB kits that you can actually buy, we jointly award our Gold Editors Choice to Mushkin 2GB Redline XP4000 and OCZ PC4000 2x1024 EB Platinum. The OCZ earned our Gold Editors Choice Award in Part 1 of the roundup and its performance still holds up very well against the 2GB kits that you can actually buy. It is slightly faster than Mushkin Redline at the same test speeds, but the differences are not significant, and no more than you would expect as normal variation among the same memory chips. Mushkin Redline overclocks a bit further - to DDR586 compared to OCZ DDR550 - so if highest OC frequencies is your goal, the Mushkin may be a better choice. |
 |
Our Silver Editors Choice has more to do with value than performance. Corsair's TWINX2048-4000PT is the only memory in this roundup based on Samsung UCCC memory chips. While the Corsair must run at slower memory timings, the real differnce in performance is fairly small. In the important overclocking area, the Corsair 4000PT is an excellent performer, reaching a stable overclock of DDR580. This is as good as any memory in this roundup and better than almost all the other 2GB kits. With the same overclocking abilities as the best Infineon and only a slight performance penalty from slower timings, the 30-40% price reduction will be an acceptable trade-off for many end-users. For the excellent value and superb overclocking offered by the Corsair TWINX2048-4000PT, we are pleased to award the AnandTech Silver Editors Choice. |
We should also mention that Samsung UCCC 2GB kits are available from OCZ and some other Enthusiast memory manufacturers. The OCZ parts are PC4000 Gold and PC4000GX XTC, and they are about the same price as the Corsair kit. We have not tested either OCZ UCCC, but with the same memory chips, performance should be similar.
All nine of the 2GB DDR kits performed very well in our tests. You should keep in mind, however, that 1GB DIMMs are much more demanding of a memory controller and the motherboard than 512MB parts. For that reason, we would strongly recommend that those who plan high overclocks with 1GB DIMMs use a CPU with a recent Rev. E or better memory controller. The more recent on-chip controllers handle the demands of 1GB memory modules better than older clawhammer controllers.
Last, we will try to answer the question again about whether two 1GB or four 512MB DIMMs are the better choice for Athlon 64 DDR memory. If you plan to install 4GB of memory or upgrade to 4GB in the near future, then 1GB DIMMs are your only choice on current motherboards. There is also no doubt that fast 1GB DIMMs, like eight of the 9 kits tested here, remove the complaint that 1GB DIMMs are slower and will compromise performance compared to fast 512MB DIMMs. There are still a few 512MB DIMMs that top the performance list, but the eight fastest 2GB kits tested here are extremely close to the very best 512MB memory in performance. Even the value Corsair 4000PT was quite close in performance to the other DIMMs and still overclocked well - so price is also no longer a major issue for 1GB DIMMs.
If we were building an AMD Athlon 64 system today, we would definitely choose a 2GB kit for memory. It finally makes sense to choose a 2GB kit and our Editors Choices in this roundup should help in your buying decision. 2GB also makes sense for the OS future. With Vista coming and 2GB, the new memory recommendation for the new OS, you will be set for Vista.
The only real question is whether you really want to invest in 2GB of DDR with AMD DDR2 just around the corner. We don't think that you can possibly lose choosing one of these excellent 2GB kits for your new system build today, but you will need new DDR2 memory for AM2 when it arrives in a few months. What we don't yet know is whether AM2 or the upcoming Intel processors will provide the kind of compelling performance that will make an upgrade to DDR2 a performance enhancing choice for your new system. We look forward to finding answers to this question in the near future.
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DonPMitchell - Monday, March 6, 2006 - link
I'm surprised there was no discussion of single-rank vs. dual-rank memory. For the Athlon, that's a big issue, becuase its memory controller may down-clock beyond 4 ranks of memory.nyogen - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link
I remember when Nvidia released their 6xxx series there was an all out boycott of paper launches.OCZ and Mushkin released not very long ago their 2GB dual channel high end kits namely:
http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/memory_detail....">http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/memory_detail....
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_e...">http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_e...
Apart from these parts not having been available, the new batch that carries only the name given by reviews are flagged by poor performance, different IC's from the original batch, and lots of glitches.
I am sure Corsair and all the other manufacturers are doing the same, paper launch, hard launch cherry picked and then selling out to unsuspecting customers a COMPLETELY different product, backed by reputable reviews.
Don't you feel like they have been using you and used your reputation and popularity in order to commit something very close to fraud ???
If you encourage us to buy these products then you have the responsability to follow up on the products life and batches so that once they try to do this again you will be there to sanction this and PROTECT US. Otherwise your reviews become fairy tales and the only ones that have the reviewed products are you and a couple of people in the world.
GO FOR THEM ! END THIS UNFAIR PRACTICE !
Overlag - Monday, February 6, 2006 - link
Crucial have infact stopped making there 1gig DDRI sticks due to the massive fail rate on there high end products.i have had 6x 512mb failures and 4x 1gig failures. While there customer services is the best of ANY online company ive dealt with, there high end products are really bad quality now.... the ram overheats, then after a few months wont run at 1t, then it starts making noises while you access it, before finaly degrading over a month from 2-2-2-6 settings down to 3-4-4-10 untill failing totaly.
This includes chips (my latest two) which ive been using at 2.7volts ONLY, and with active cooling, yet they are still hotter than my X2 4400 at 4800 speeds...Last week they run fine at 2-2-2-7 1t, now they are at 3-3-3-8 2t :(
... Why there high end products have problems i dont know, there normal or value ram runs fine for YEARS and YEARS.
Very disapointed with it all apart from the customer services. However even that has started to disapoint me, as they refused to RMA/refund me for my 2x 512mb pair...
leexgx - Monday, February 6, 2006 - link
i had no problems getting my ram RMAed and replaced (2 days ago 2 day turn around UK) never had something replaced so fast before :)you can still buy it from here (UK tho)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Crucial_Dua...">http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Crucial_Dua...
on an other note it is an consern to me as well i have never used ram that can heat my room (needs active cooling) like others have posted it does run hot if not cooled i cant seem to get to 2-2-2-7 T1 my asus a8n-sli prem does an anoying thing by auto setting it to 4 5 5 12 {fail safe maybe?}(when i open A64 tweeker as it shows the info) then the nvidia Sound or nvidia video tray Icon crashs the system with an nice BSOD, (works fine tho at 3-3-3-7 T1 @ ddr500 2.7v or ddr speed lower but just run it at ddr400 ish now)
an but realy any way good OCZ or just standered TwinMoss ram is realy real world 2-4% performance dif (Amd64 On chip ram contorler removes the bottle neck that was on the Older k7 chips i go for lower timeings over more bandwith)
realy should have an look at DFI streets Forums on the matter of ddr1 Ocing (AMD overclocking) http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f...">http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f...
(other note i think my ram was partly dead when i got it just put up with it untill me pc did not boot any more )
Overlag - Thursday, February 9, 2006 - link
i wouldnt want to buy ballistix ever again... Once this set finaly gives up the ghost i will ask for a full refund and get some real memory.XeCutor - Thursday, February 2, 2006 - link
My first pair failed memtest at 250mhz, seemed stable at 247mhz. My second pair does 250mhz but not much more. Fails at 255mhz. All this is on a DFI Expert board with an opteron 165 3-4-4-8 1T timings at 2,6-2,8v. Voltage doesn't seem to matter att all to these sticks, they fail at the same speeds regardless for me.bupkus - Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - link
I went for the Twinx2048-3200c2pt because of the lower timings and $197 AMIR price. I haven't researched this much lately, but I recall PC3200 with tight timings getting the nod from the enthusiast community for the Athlon 64.The TWINX2048-4000PT that I faced it off to lists timings of 3-4-4-8 which I thought wasn't preferable to the tighter timings especially with a price of $233.
The OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K is going for the same price of about $200 but the OCZ5001024EBPE only appears on newegg as a single 1GB module for $153.44 + $4.81 shipping.
That's too rich for my blood.
I guess the question for me would be which is the best for $200 +- $20?
Visual - Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - link
Besides the TWINX kit, corsair offers single 1GB modules too - again marked as 4000PTThe price for the kits for some reason seems higher than two separate modules.
So my question is, are the separate modules the same thing as what's in the kits? Why don't you mention them at all, and either recommend them for better value over the overpriced kits, or, if they dont perform as well, warn users about them?
Googer - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - link
I would have liked to have seen four 512MB modules shown in the graphs as a refrence of how much or how little there is to gain by using these pairs of 1GB modules. By doing this I could form a cost/benefit analasys.bersl2 - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
I'm going to wait to see if the price on DDR1 falls again before AMD goes DDR2. If it does, I'll get 2 x 1GiB to replace the 4 x 512MiB I bought over a year ago, but haven't been able to use until just now.