This Just In: G.Skill Giveaway Goodies

Before the new site launched I demoed a new feature I'd been toying with called This Just In. The idea is to give you guys a quick glance at what I'm working on (and eventually what the entire team is working on) as soon as something new arrives at our doorsteps.

I'll admit that there have been a few things that have arrived since my last post, however all of them are under NDA at this point. I do have good news though, more giveaways are coming.

I asked our ad reps to see if any of their clients wanted to provide any giveaways to commemorate the new site launch. G.Skill was eager to show their appreciation for you all and dropped off a big box of goodies to give away.

I haven't inventoried it all yet, nor have I decided how we're going to give it away but expect more details next week :) And congrats to our AMD/Lenovo giveaway winner Scott T. from Syracuse, NY. Scott and I have already been in communication and AMD is working hard to get him his brand new ThinkPad X100e asap!

Fastest Memory Race Heats Up - Corsair Announces 2533MHz DDR3

The whole 'fastest memory' halo product race is a bit of a farce.  In terms of DDR3, Corsair started the race back in 2007 with their first set of Dominator modules, running at 1600Mhz, 10-8-8-24.  This has been followed and bested, mainly by Corsair, but with sneak appearances by Kingston, G.Skill and Patriot (see below).

Available as single sticks from the Corsair website, these new GTX4 modules will set you back $325 for each 2GB stick.  With rather slack timings of 9-11-10-30 at 1.65V, each module is handtested using a Core i7 Lynnfield CPU on a Gigabyte P55 motherboard.  Michal Nowicki, Corsair's inhouse overclocker, advises that 'most CPUs will require sub-ambient cooling to run [these modules] at their maximum speed'.

Despite the lifetime warranty and the ability to boast about a 'halo' product, I can't see a point in these sticks - even for overclockers.  With such slack timings to begin with, I wonder just how much headroom is available, when other 2400+ kits with better timings are available.  At $325 a stick, you really are shooting yourself in the foot.

But alas, these modules will sell, and Corsair know they will.

A brief (and abridged) history on the latest and greatest memory is summarised below:

Date	Company	Brand	Speed	Timings
Jun '07	Corsair	Dominator	DDR3-1600Mhz	10-8-8-24
Jun '08	Corsair	Dominator	DDR3-2000Mhz	8-8-8-24
Dec '09	Corsair	Dominator GTX	DDR3-2250Mhz	8-8-8-24
Jan '10	Corsair	Dominator GTX1	DDR3-2333Mhz	9-11-9-27
Mar '10	Kingston	HyperX	DDR3-2400Mhz	9-11-9-25
Apr '10	G.Skill	Trident	DDR3-2500Mhz	9-11-9-28
Apr '10	Patriot	Viper II	DDR3-2500Mhz	9-11-9-27
May '10	Corsair	Dominator GTX4	DDR3-2533Mhz	9-11-10-30

Lab Update - Patriot Memory Viper Series DDR3-1333

As·sump·tion - an assuming that something is true; a fact or statement (as a proposition, axiom, postulate, or notion) taken for granted. A very powerful word if we might say so and one that can generally get us in trouble while reviewing hardware. During the course of testing for our upcoming DDR3 roundup, we assumed a few items to be true about the memory we were reviewing. Turns out, our assumptions were off the mark, but for good reason.

Our first assumption is that we should concentrate on the DDR3-1600 kits as they provided a wide range of flexibility for most users. Most of the performance oriented kits would easily hit DDR3-1800+ at decent timings and voltages, satisfying the overclocking needs of all but the hardcore enthusiasts while at the same time allowing very tight timings at lower clock speeds for applications that responded best to a combination of bandwidth and low latencies.

The reason for choosing DDR3-1600 first is that the initial DDR3-1066 and DDR3-1333 6GB kits we received generally clocked about 100MHz~200MHz above their rated speeds and latency improvements required voltages above 1.65V in most cases on our i7 platform. In addition, pricing was not that much less on a per Gigabyte basis, which certainly justified our higher performing selections at the time. By chance, we were looking at 6GB kit prices on Newegg and NCIX last month and noticed a couple of DDR3-1333 6GB kits had dropped below the $100 mark (a virtual flood of 6GB kits are now hitting the $100 mark).

These kits were not available when we started collecting review samples a few weeks ago so we ordered a new Patriot Viper DDR3-1333 (PVT36G1333ELK) 6GB kit for a very reasonable price of $93.99 plus free shipping. Our reason was simple, we just wanted to see how well the latest “budget” DDR3 product on the market clocked and if our assumptions were still correct about the first 1066/1333 kits we received. Considering our test results with the Patriot kit, we checked the credit line and ordered several “budget” 6GB kits from GSkill, Mushkin, Crucial, OCZ, Corsair, and others to feature in our roundup.

We based our second assumption on test results with our DDR3-1600 to DDR3-2000 kits providing the best possible performance on the i7 platform, especially for those overclocking the 920 processors. Our reasoning for sticking with the higher end kits was sound until recent events. The i7 platform was an expensive proposition for most users who wanted to upgrade with decent motherboards costing $300, the “budget” 920 processor going for nearly $300, and 6GB low voltage DDR3 kits costing a good $225 or higher for products that could keep up with the 920 overclocks. This resulted in a very niche market condition and one that if you had to ask the price then you probably were not going to be able to afford it.

A few weeks later, we have X58 motherboards selling for $170 with rebates, a new i7 processor stepping (D0) coming from Intel that promises a little extra headroom in clock rates, and 6GB DDR3 kits selling for around $90. The entry cost to get into an i7 platform has dropped about 34% in the last six weeks if you are pinching pennies like most of us. Guess what, the performance difference in platform selections then and now is less than 2% at best. Only those who plan on serious overclocking need to worry about spending more, but that is always the case.

Another factor in dropping prices is the rise from ashes act that AMD has accomplished with the Phenom II product line. True, it is not in the same performance category as the i7 when it comes to crunching numbers or heavy manipulation of digital content, but the Phenom II is extremely competitive on a price/performance basis when looking at the big picture. Pairing up the current Phenom II X3 720BE with either a DDR2/DDR3 based 790FX/GX motherboard results in some of the best bang for the buck performance you are likely to experience this year, at least until the new X4 95x series comes out.

Of course, Intel has the P55 platform launching later this year and we mention that because DDR3 will soon become the memory of choice for anyone upgrading to a new platform. The Phenom II platform lets you retain your current DDR2 based AM2+ setup until you decide to make the switch and we will soon see that is not a bad option from an everyday performance or cost viewpoint. However, those who need the absolute best performance from the Phenom II should go the DDR3 route at this point.

All that said, we are here today to take a first look at the Patriot Viper Series (PVT36G1333ELK) DDR3-1333 CAS9 6GB memory kit. Heresy, one might claim looking at the specs but this kit delivers the flexibility we have been seeking, only at a lower price point. Until we finish testing our recent "budget" arrivals, we thought it prudent to provide a quick look at how well this particular memory kit clocks and if it higher memory speeds actually matter at stock processor speeds or mild overclocks.

Memory Scaling on Core i7 - Is DDR3-1066 Really the Best Choice?

And we begin, with a graph:

The graph above represents the cost, from Newegg.com, of 11 different 6GB DDR3 memory kits (1066 C7/C5 are the same kit). The only variables are the manufacturer and speed of the DDR3 memory included in the kit.

The least expensive DDR3-1066 6GB kit we purchased sells for $80, the most expensive 6GB kit? $289. That’s over a $200 difference; that and some pocket change is enough to pay for a sweet new video card, a nice 22” monitor, or even a iPhone 3GS.

All of that extra money is going somewhere: frequency and latency. The lowest end kit has a data rate of 1066MHz and a CAS latency of 7 cycles. The most expensive kit has a 1866MHz data rate at the same CAS latency; that’s a 75% increase in data rate.

A 10% increase in CPU speed rarely yields more than a 4 or 5% increase in performance, but what about a 75% increase in memory speed? We don’t have a single page on AnandTech to point you to that would answer that question. At least we didn’t, until today.

A Brief History of DDR3

We first met DDR3 alongside Intel’s P35 chipset. It’s performance at the time was at best equal to or usually worse than DDR2 while carrying a significant price premium. It wasn’t until the release of the Intel X48 and NVIDIA 790i chipsets that Socket 775 users could even see an advantage to using DDR3 and even then, it was primarily for benchmarking contests - hooray, because we all know how important those are.

There were some tangible advantages to DDR3 from the start, the biggest being it’s lower operating voltage. DDR2 memory required 1.8V while DDR3 could run at 1.5V, this made DDR3 particularly attractive for notebooks but on the desktop the advantage was sort of abused.

In order to take advantage of DDR3’s higher memory speed, benchmarking enthusiasts often had to use DDR3-1866/2000 kits that required voltages in the 1.8V~2.0V range to reach these clock speeds. Performance improvements in certain benchmarks were available through brute force use of voltages and ICs that allowed high memory speeds at decent latencies. In the end, improvements in actual applications were just not worth the cost or trouble of using DDR3 compared to DDR2.

Intel made no secret of its plans to move the vast majority of their processor lineups to DDR3 memory a few years ago. They truly wanted/desired that DDR3 would be the standard memory of choice by the time P45/X48 launched, but DDR3’s limited availability, middling performance, and a price premium that was truly prohibitive for the mainstream crowd, let alone the enthusiast market space made this desire impossible. As such, this left users with memory controllers not truly optimized for either memory technology that resulted in performance not significantly different from earlier Core 2 supporting S775 chipsets.

AMD recently released the AM3 platform and their AM3 based Phenom II processors support both DDR2 and DDR3 allowing users to either upgrade to AM3 boards or keep using their DDR2 based AM2+ boards, a simple if not elegant solution. With the recent release of new boards, BIOS optimizations, and near cost parity with DDR2, we now think DDR3 is a viable option for AMD users.

That said, DDR3 started coming into its prime last fall as the release of second and third generation DDR3 devices along with Intel’s Core i7. Core i7 and the X58 platform introduced Intel’s first on-die memory controller. Aside from other architectural improvements, Core i7 supports three DDR3 memory channels compared to the standard two channel setup, yielding some impressive bandwidth numbers.

There was one problem with this new design, a real fly in the ointment actually for the memory suppliers. Current JDEC specifications list 1.50V as the official voltage specification for DDR3 with a move to 1.35V in the near future and eventually to 1.20V. However, most of the performance oriented DDR3 modules released for the Core 2 platforms generally operated at 1.8V~2.0V in order to hit high speeds with decent latencies. In essence, the memory kits were already overclocked to hit clock speeds that made DDR3 a performance consideration on S775. The memory controllers on the Core 2 based Northbridge products could easily handle these voltages and surprisingly enough, so could the ICs.

Well, Intel officially released their recommended memory voltages for the Core i7 several months before launch with 1.50V as the recommended base voltage and 1.65V as the suggested maximum along with 1.35V for VTT (QPI) maximum. This left the memory suppliers in a bind as true high-speed low-voltage ICs were not going to appear until after the Core i7 launch. Intel extended official support to DDR3-800/1066 speeds only, although most current X58 motherboards support speeds up to DDR3-2133 or higher.

At the Core i7 launch, the market ended up with a bevy of DDR3-1066/1333 low-voltage kits with a sprinkling of higher speed DDR3-1600 and DDR3-1866 kits based on highly binned ICs that met the 1.65V recommendation. One other twist was that the memory suppliers had to package low-voltage higher-speed 3-DIMM kits instead of the normal 2-DIMM configuration in order to satisfy triple channel owners.

Fast forward to today and we see the wide availability of high-speed low-voltage DDR3 products with more choices coming on a daily basis. In fact, the availability of DDR3 products almost matches that of DDR2 with similar price points. By the end of this year, DDR3 products will outnumber DDR2 offerings although it will be a couple of years before DDR3 usage overtakes DDR2.

OCZ Blade DDR3-2133 - Is it Fast Enough?

OCZ shipped us their DDR3-2133 Blade 6GB kit last month and asked us to review it as part of our Core i7 975 launch. Of course, we could not refuse that offer. We received the Blade kit, our 975 ES processor, and several other premium components, but hit a huge bump in the road during testing. You see, it turns out our 975 engineering samples could not clock their way out of a paper bag. As such, we decided to order a retail 975 and it finally arrived along with a retail EVGA X58 Classified (E759) motherboard.

We were confident the lethal combination of a very good Core i7 975 and one of the best clocking motherboards around will allow us to take this memory kit to its limits. However, yet another speed bump presented itself as our cooling capabilities in the labs here are limited to various high-end air coolers or TEC units such as the CoolIT Systems Freezone Elite. Armed with the realization that we were going to be limited to the 4.5GHz range and resulting 2150 memory speeds we decided to pack the kit up for shipment. Raja will be the lucky recipient as he has the proper cooling equipment available and is already working on a DDR3-2000+ article at this moment for the more fanatical readers.

In the meantime, we ran a few numbers with a Core i7 920D0 stepping at both stock core speeds and an almost universal 4.2GHz overclock on the ASUS Rampage II GENE motherboard. We also completed a couple of quick overclocks on the 920/Classified combo just to show what a couple of minutes of playing around with the BIOS can provide with this kit on high-end air cooling. As you will see shortly, there really is no reason for the typical desktop user to procure a kit like this for 24/7 use, unless you just want one for a status symbol.

We are sure OCZ will welcome your business with open arms no matter your purpose, but their primary audience is the people who benchmark for a living. In that regard, this kit is designed to compete against the latest DDR3-2000 C7 6GB kits from Corsair and GSkill. As such, today's preview could be considered somewhat laughable by the hardcore enthusiast but it is perfect segue into our mainstream memory articles later this week. That is not to say this kit is completely without merit, it will easily run DDR3-2133 C7 settings at voltages we have not reached with the other two manufacturer's products and for benchmarking activities that is an important distinction. For the other 99% of us, it is fun to see the numbers but we have far better alternatives available in the market.

The Kit-

Gallery: OCZ DDR3-2133 Images

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This is OCZ's top rated Blade series kit. Of course looking at the specifications it is the top rated kit available, period. Whether it is the top performing kit is something we will answer shortly. OCZ designed this kit to operate at DDR3-2133 (1067MHz) at timings of 8-9-8-24 on the X58 platform with 1.65v, preferably with the Core i7 975. The reason being, IMC load, the lower the Bclk, the lower the load and voltage requirements on the platform when using the unlocked multiplier on the 975 to gain CPU speed compared to a locked processor like the 920 or W3540 that requires high Bclks to reach like processor speeds. It is a little more complicated than that, but that is the 10,000ft overview.

The OCZ Blade OCZ3B2133LV6GK features the top (1%) binned Elpida Hyper J1108BASE-MNH-E IC or the "Hyper" for short. These IC's are already rated for the upcoming ultra low 1.2V/1.35V voltage specification as well as the current JEDEC standard of 1.5V. One of the primary differences between these IC's and all others is that they use copper interconnects as opposed to aluminum, resulting in higher clock speeds at lower voltages. I wonder where we have heard that use of technology before. Anyway, it is obvious by now that we are not dealing with your mass produced DDR3-1066 kits and as such we expect a heavy price premium when these kits launch in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, let's take a quick look at these unique modules being subjected to clock rates that probably had them screaming, not from pain, but rather embarrassment.

DDR3-2000+ Memory Kits - Fast but Flawed

We just looked at i7 memory scaling performance and now it is time to chill a few processors to see what those DDR3-2000+ kits are capable of for the serious overclocker. As it turns out that was the opening to our original article, which we planned to launch in conjunction with the DDR3 memory-scaling article.

However, the best plans of mice and men sometimes go awry. Unfortunately, we met delay after delay as every one of our Elpida “Hyper” based kits failed on us in some form or fashion over the past few weeks. At times, a single module would fail and eventually the whole kit in certain instances. Eventually our patience wore thin as even warranty replacements started failing and we knew this was not an isolated problem.

In fact, this problem has become widespread in the extreme overclocking community. Admittedly, widespread in this particular group means a few hundred users. Nevertheless, this audience purchases these extreme memory kits with prices tags reaching the $500+ level at times and expects like performance and quality in return. Certainly, the performance is there, quality we are not so sure about right now.

We could attribute the demise of our modules to the elevated voltage levels we have used for this article and normally we would go that direction and stop for the day. However, we had modules die on us using no more 1.50V VDimm and stock VTT settings in a variety of boards. We are not the only ones, as it seems a number of users have also been through the RMA process (a few more than once) regardless of voltage settings.

The “official” cause of death is unknown at present, while the usual suspects, such as manufacturing errors, motherboard voltage/ user over voltage issues and temperature related deterioration are the obvious perpetrators. The “unofficial” cause of death is simply a quality problem with the Elpida “Hyper” based ICs according to various sources we have spoken with the past couple of weeks. Granted, the other factors can and probably do account for a certain failure rate, but the randomness of our failures along with others, especially at first POST or during stock benchmarking lead us to believe that the quality of the IC is the primary factor at this point.

We have contacted Elpida about the problem but do not have an “official” response from their engineering group yet. However, the problem is serious enough that Corsair informed us earlier today that they askedtheir retailers to return any kits in the channel. They will not be selling kits based on the Elpida Hyper ICs until an enhanced manufacturing and testing process is in place to ensure the quality of this particular product before shipment. We applaud Corsair for being aggressive in regards to this problem and we expect/hope other suppliers to follow suit.

Most of the suppliers have reported that a relatively small percentage of kits appear to be affected. Just how small is unknown. Based on our own numbers and those of other users it appears to us it is significantly more serious than we were lead to believe a few weeks ago. We are now at the point of just saying that you are better off avoiding Elpida Hyper kits due to the ‘frequently random’ level of failures with modules. However, at least for now, all of the suppliers are fully backing their warranties. If you need the available benchmarking performance generated by these kits then it is worth the risk. Just make sure of the warranty terms before purchase, or simply put, buyer beware.

When we speak of failures, there are two types, a catastrophic failure where the module dies instantly and one of deterioration. One or more of the modules failing to map fully to the operating system usually marks the first sign of deterioration. Moving the modules around between the slots can work around some of this, although from our experience this is a primary sign that things are beginning to go downhill fast. This phenomenon is not to be confused with the i7 memory controller skipping to map a module because of insufficient voltages for the applied clocks.

The next step is when the module no longer clocks up at stock voltages or given voltage limits like 1.65V VDimm. We have witnessed modules not clocking above 1900MHz or so regardless of voltages and slowly dropping to 1200MHz before total failure.

With all that said, we decided to complete the article as there are users out there that have not experienced any of the issues at all or those still wishing to take a chance on these kits. Two of the kits we have been pushing for raw bandwidth over the past few weeks are Corsair’s Dominator GT 7-8-7-20 6GB kit and OCZ’s Blade 2133 8-9-8-24 6GB kit. We have tested other kits, but these are the last two standing in the labs although both of them are now showing signs of deterioration.

Corsair chose to stick with the tried and tested 2000MHz CAS 7-8-7-20 formula while OCZ gives up the tighter CAS rating in a bid to woo the market with a 2133MHz kit at 8-9-8-24 timings. On the face of it, we would say that both kits should be capable of similar results assuming that SPD and PCB differences between the two are not massive. OCZ and Corsair tell us their respective top end kits represent the top 1% of the Elpida Hyper yield.

We’re keeping it simple today, running a few of the preferred benchmarking programs in a bid to find maximum frequency limits for the modules along with a small comparison of scores at the same CPU frequency. We have already shown that these kits are not really needed by the general enthusiast and typically do not improve application performance significantly enough to warrant the increased cost. However, they do provide a certain degree of flexibility when overclocking and allow for very tight latencies at a variety of memory speeds.

Mushkin XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2 – Xtreme Performance Memory

Mushkin XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2

Has the time come for DDR2 memory? Is now the time for enthusiasts to finally embrace DDR2 technology with better performance on Intel based platforms, and the promised Holy Grail of AMD's new AM2 socket with DDR2 support and built-in memory controllers?

Socket AM2, the 940 pin DDR2-ready Athlon 64 socket, will be unleashed upon consumers some time this summer, most likely by the end of July. AMD is expected to have working samples in place by the time of Computex 2006, which will be held from June 6 th to June 10 th in Taipei.

After DDR2 was first introduced for Intel, Micron D fat body chips gained enthusiast's attention in a big way, due to the lower latency timings and the ability to push performance to much higher memory speeds. Unfortunately, the Micron fat body D DDR2 memory chips are now history.

Perhaps Mushkin has discovered an alternative to the famed Fat Body IC's. While 3-3-3 at DDR2-667 is not quite as fast as the 3-2-2 timings seen with the best Micron chips, it is still among the fastest specifications that you will find for DDR2-667 memory modules. It is also worth mentioning that the older, and now discontinued, Micron Fat Body D chips were never specified as performing at 3-2-2- timings, so perhaps these new Mushkin Elpida modules will do even better than their rated timings.

With that in mind, the goal in testing was to see exactly what the new Mushkin XP2 memory could do in our memory test suite. How do the new Mushkin DDR2 with Elpida chips compare to the top Micron DDR2 memory? Is this new Mushkin DDR2 memory a worthy choice for current Intel and future AM2 enthusiasts?

Product Specifications and Information

Mushkin confirmed the use of Elpida IC's for the Extreme Performance Black Series (XP) memory modules.

Brain Power confirmed that the B62URCE PCB used in the new Mushkin XP2 PC-5300 is manufactured by them. Brain Power manufactures custom PCB modifications for their customers. They can also supply stock memory boards.

Elpida provided a data sheet for these integrated circuits, which are being utilized by Mushkin in this XP series memory.

PC2-5300 667MHz DDR2	CL 3-3-3 (CAS-TRCD-TRP)
2GB (1024MB x 2)	Unbuffered
Improved Black Heat Spreader with new thermal tape	Lifetime Warranty
2.1 - 2.3 Volts	240 Pin DIMM
Elpida IC: E5108AG-6E-E	Brain Power PCB: MLL E186014 B62URCE

In a screen capture from the Elpida data sheet, you can see how to decode the information from the actual IC part number. We are examining the EDE5108AGSE-6E-E part. The "A" in the part number is indicative of voltage (i.e. this is normally specified as a 1.8 volt part).

The XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2 memory uses the new Mushkin heat spreader, recently designed to improve Mushkin heat spreader performance. One feature of the new design is the use of better thermal tape.

On July 28, 2005, Mushkin announced their new heat spreader for their high performance memory modules. Mushkin claimed that the new heat spreaders provided 58% more surface area than their previous designs.

Below is a photograph of the sample heat sink design, which Mushkin sent back in July 2005 for feedback.

Consumers and enthusiasts should note that the XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2 memory kits are available in either a 1 GB or 2 GB matched pair. With memory intensive games and applications such as Adobe Photoshop, the advantage of having two gigabytes of memory will be quite apparent.

FAST 2GB DDR Kits - Part 2

Part 1 of the 2GB DDR Kit Roundup took a close look at 3 memories based on Infineon memory chips. Since that review in October, a number of 2GB DDR kits have appeared in the market with most based on Infineon C or B die memory chips. There are, however, a few brands that have taken a different approach to memory chips for 1GB DIMMs, and we have included those in this roundup, along with the latest Infineon-based memories.

1GB DDR DIMMs began appearing in the market over a year ago, but it wasn't until mid-2005 that 1GB DIMMs with reasonably fast timings became widely available. These faster 1GB DIMMs finally made the choice of 2GB memory kits to be a reasonable choice in a market that had been dominated by fast DDR 512MB DIMMs.

There are many reasons to choose a 2GB kit over a 1GB kit or 4 512MB DIMMs. Two 1GB DIMMs on the AMD Athlon 64 can still run at 1T Command rate, instead of the 2T required by the 4x512MB DIMMs needed for 2GB with 512MB DIMMs - a definite advantage for the 1GB DIMMs. On the other hand, until recently, the available 1GB DIMMs were generally much slower than the fast 2-2-2 DIMMs that were commonly available in 512MB DIMMs. We normally saw 3-3-3 or 3-4-4 or slower timings for 1GB DIMMs. These poorer timings for 1GB DIMMs took away most of the advantage for the 1GB 1T Command Rate.

There was an additional "gotcha" with the 1GB DIMMs that many enthusiasts quickly discovered. With a starting point of 3-3-3 or 3-4-4 at DDR400, the 1GB parts did not overclock nearly as far as the 512MB parts. For all of these reasons, we generally recommended that most users were better off with 512MB DIMMs - at least until memory timings improved on the 1GB DIMMs.

The time for faster 1GB DIMMs has finally come in the past 6 months, and they are now available from almost every memory manufacturer. In Part 1, we looked at three 2GB kits from Corsair, Gigaram, and OCZ. In this part 2, we put six additional fast 2GB kits through our test bench, with some interesting results. We also updated some parts of our memory test bench, which required retesting of the original three 2GB kits.

Our memory tests differentiate memory in two ways. First, AnandTech has always been an advocate of real world performance measurements, and we've shunned using just synthetic benchmarks in our testing of every type of component, including memory. This is not because synthetic benchmarks are not useful - they are often very revealing of component differences - but rather, it is because running just synthetic benchmarks can severely distort the picture of performance with real applications and real games. That is why we always use games and the pure number-crunching Super Pi in our memory tests. It is also the reason why we test using both Buffered (Standard) and Unbuffered synthetic benchmarks. We have found in much of our testing that the less commonly used Unbuffered benchmarks mirror more closely how games really respond to memory differences.

Second, we moved to testing different memory speeds at the same CPU clock speed in our Athlon 64 memory tests. The AMD CPU, with unlocked multipliers, allowed us to finally remove the CPU speed differences from our memory tests. This allows you to finally see the true impact of memory speed increases and memory timings on performance. As you have seen in past reviews, those performance differences are very real, although they are much smaller than what many memory manufacturers might want you to believe. On the other hand, faster memory speeds and faster memory timings do improve performance, no matter what some nay-sayers are determined to prove.

Crucial Ballistix DDR2: The New DDR2 Standard?

The DDR2 market enjoyed some incredible DDR2 performance early in its life with a Micron DDR2 chip that we have since come to know as Fat Body D9. Everyone who made DDR2 used these chips because the performance was so outstanding, and when Micron decided to discontinue them last year, memory makers began scrambling for a replacement. Thus far, they haven't found a new DDR2 chip with the same low latency and high frequency capabilities of the now legendary Micron chips.

Two months ago, a new buzz began that Micron and their Crucial direct sales arm would be introducing a new and even better DDR2 memory chip. Every enthusiast memory maker with whom we talked about DDR2 was saying to wait until March when we have new high performance chips. Those chips, of course, are to be based on these new Micron DDR2 memory chips. When Crucial offered to send us their newest and top-performing DDR2 memory in early February, we couldn't wait to take a closer look. Were these the new Micron wonder DDR2?

In this review of two of the new Crucial Ballistix DDR2 kits, the biggest question on everyone's mind is: how will it compare to the legendary Fat Body D9 chips? Does it maintain tight timings at higher clock speeds? Is it still responsive to increased voltage like prior iterations of the Fat Body D9 made by Micron?

Crucial Technology's PC2-6400 has memory timings specified at 4-4-4-12 at speeds of DDR2-800. The other memory kit that Crucial sent along for testing was their PC2-5300, rated at DDR2-667 speeds with lower latency timings of 3-3-3-12.

What lies under the copper-colored, aluminum heat spreaders? Crucial Technology continues to use their trademark black PCB.

After careful removal of the heat spreader, we scanned the PCB itself below:

Click to enlarge.

This depicts the PCB lurking underneath the Crucial Technology PC2-5300 DDR2 memory kit that we tested recently.

Closer examination of the IC's showed some distinctive markings, which can be used to help identify the integrated circuits that were used in construction of this particular memory module.

On the top row, beneath the Ballistix stamping on the IC, the first row is marked 5KAH.

The 2^nd row shows markings of D9DQT. Please note that the D9 is indicative of Micron's Fat Body integrated circuit. At the very bottom of the IC, there is a -3F marking, which is usually used for speed grading.

By entering the FBGA code into Micron's Part Marking Decoder, the search output was rather inconclusive. This part appears not to be in the Micron database yet. The restamping and lack of information from Micron keeps us wondering about the real speed of the new DDR2 Chips. Does this new die revision of the D9 IC's still contain 3.7ns chips as we saw with past D9?

With limited specifications and no memory ID that tells us anything, memory benchmarking is the only way to find out if the new memory from Crucial Technology can produce the widely anticipated results?

Click to enlarge.

With the advent of the new 975X chipsets available on the market, this was a prime opportunity to test some new DDR2 modules from Crucial on this Intel based platform. AnandTech utilized the quite stable ASUS P5WD2-Premium motherboard, in conjunction with an Intel Pentium 955 Extreme Edition CPU, which sported a 1066MHz FSB dual core solution, containing a whopping 2MB of L2 cache onboard, as part of our testing platform. You can read our full Asus P5WD2-E Premium review here.

Asus advertises this particular motherboard in their February 2006 product information spreadsheet, claiming it as their flagship 975X motherboard with native DDR2 800 support. The chart below shows the myriad of memory options at different front side bus speeds available with this particular mainboard. The asterisks indicate settings provided for overclocking purposes only.

FSB	Memory Configuration Options/ASUS P5WD2-E Premium Motherboard
	Auto	DDR2-400	DDR2-533	DDR2-667	DDR2-711*	DDR2-800*	DDR2-889*	DDR2-1067*
FSB 1066	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
FSB 800	*	*	*	*	-	*	-	-
FSB 533	*	*	*	-	-	-	-	-

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Super Talent & TEAM Join the Fast DDR2 Club With both AMD and Intel solidly in the DDR2 camp memory makers have pulled out all the stops in creating

Well here's one story that managed to slip behind our desk for a few days: Samsung has finally begun mass production of their 900MHz(1.1ns) GDDR3 chips. As the primary high-end memory supplier in the video industry, ATI and NVIDIA effectively live and die by what and how soon Samsung can offer bigger and faster memory chips, so the ramifications of this are going to be pretty straightforward.

The timing on this is fairly consistent with what little information we know about ATI and NVIDIA's winter-refresh products due some time in Q1 2006, so mass production of the necessary memory a couple of months ahead of time is fairly normal. These are all 32bit-wide 512Mb chips, so the sweet spot for any cards using them will need to be at least 512MB, since 8 chips are necessary to achieve a proper 256bit memory bus (so those of you looking for a 7900 GTX 256 may be out of luck). For those users worried about the power consumption of the latest video cards, don't look for things to get any better with these memory modules; it's no fluke that the 7800GTX 512 and X1800XT ran hotter than previous cards, as these are 2.0V chips, so if there's a drop in power usage with the refresh cards, it won't be due to the memory.

The more interesting factor at this point in time however is what this means for NVIDIA's oft-lauded and hard to find GeForce 7800GTX 512. It's no secret that while NVIDIA managed keep with their press-favorable policy of hard-launching the card with the announcement, they haven't been able to keep the card in any regular supply (much to the chagrin of eVGA owners in the step-up queue), and its rumored that the supply of this memory had a great deal of involvement in this problem. While NVIDIA certainly is not apt to talk about the problem, given that this memory only entered mass production a month after the GTX 512 launched, we're inclined to believe that this is indeed the case.

Now if NVIDIA and its partners intend to use some of these mass produced parts to pick up GTX 512 production or horde it all for the winter refresh remains to be seen, although it is more likely they'll horde it given the difficulties and amount of stock required to hard launch a high-end video card. So consumers still looking for a GTX 512 may be out of luck and better off waiting for the winter refresh. We can't say we would disagree with the decision to use the current stock of memory to build up the refresh if this is the case, though it doesn't excuse our disappointment in NVIDIA for being unable to regularly supply the GTX 512. Certainly some initial exhaustions of stock are expected for a new card, but a hard launch is only as good as the card supply, and this is a case where NVIDIA has failed.

With the mass production of their 900MHz modules, Samsung is nearly done with GDDR3 as their headliner graphics memory. One last refresh is due in 2006, 1GHz modules which Samsung is still working on, after which they will move to GDDR4. Samsung expects to start mass production of GDDR4 in Q2 2006 with speeds of at least 1.25GHz, so everyone can get out their calendars now and start dreaming about what the summer 2006 lineup will look like.

Super Talent & TEAM Join the Fast DDR2 Club

Super Talent & TEAM Join the Fast DDR2 Club

With both AMD and Intel solidly in the DDR2 camp memory makers have pulled out all the stops in creating new and faster DDR2 memory. The latest Intel Core 2 Duo and AMD AM2 platforms both support DDR2-800, and enthusiast memory makers have filled the market with DDR2-800, DDR2-1000, DDR2-1066, and even DDR2-1100 modules. The new DIMMs, mostly based on Micron memory chips, established memory timings of 3-3-3 as the newest standard for Enthusiast memory at DDR2-800. All of these new memories have also reached DDR2-1067 and beyond.

Even Value DDR2 became faster very quickly. Most of the value sticks began using Elpida memory, and while these were usually rated at DDR2-667 or DDR2-533, they managed to run at DDR2-800 at 4-3-3 timings at around 2.2V. None of the DDR2-800, DDR2-667, or DDR2-533 rated modules tested have been able to reach DDR2-1067, which is supported by recent Intel Socket 775 boards, but DDR2-800 at good timings is plenty fast for many users. You will find a recent roundup of Value DDR2 in the Value DDR2 section of theConroe Buying Guide. However, you will need to ignore the prices quoted just two months ago, because memory is in another period of price escalation. Some memory has increased 50% or more in price, and the great value 2GB memory kits for $150 are no where to be found.

From this stew of ever-escalating DDR2 memory prices, two brands have landed on our test bench that may not be familiar to all our readers - particularly at the high-end of memory performance. Super Talent and TEAM have both established a reputation of delivering solid value in memory, but they are not the names that normally come to mind when you think of the best memory available. However, both companies are out to prove their products are more than competitive when it comes to memory aimed at the computer enthusiast.

We were excited to look at both these new DDR2-1000 offerings because top DDR2 memory has become so expensive so fast. Both Super Talent and TEAM seem to have a knack for pricing their products at the value end of whatever speed they ship, and it was time to find out if the value was real, or whether there were performance penalties for the lower prices.

The first glance at the rated performance of both new modules was not particularly encouraging. Super Talent rates their T1000UX2G4 at 4-4-5-15 timings at DDR2-1000 with 2.2V . The important rating here is the 5 which represents RAS to CAS delay. TEAM is even more conservative than Super Talent, rating their DDR2-1000 at 5-5-5-15 at DDR2-1000 with 2.1V to 2.3V. These rated performance numbers compare to our champion Corsair and OCZ DDR2-1000 modules which both run with complete stability at 4-3-4-11 timings at 2.20V to 2.25V at DDR2-1067 - well above their rated speed. However, we have often seen much more conservative timing and speed ratings than the best memory can actually achieve, and this is particularly true with high-end memory. The proof is in what the memory can actually do in competitive memory benchmarking.

Corsair and OCZ: New Standards in Fast DDR2

The Fastest DDR2 from Corsair and OCZ

DDR2 memory has zoomed to the forefront recently, after several years of benign neglect by the enthusiast community. AMD, which has led the enthusiast market for the last couple of years, moved from DDR to DDR2 in late May. Intel Core 2 Duo was recently introduced and finally gave enthusiasts a reason to want to own Intel processors again. Suddenly, no matter what platform you wanted to buy, you found it was fueled by DDR2 memory.

As a result of the increased spotlight on DDR2, memory makers pulled out all the stops in creating new and faster DDR2 memory. The two newest platforms support DDR2-800, and enthusiast memory makers quickly brought DDR2-800, DDR2-1000, and DDR2-1066 modules to market. The new DIMMs, mostly based on Micron memory chips, established memory timings of 3-3-3 as the newest standard for enthusiast memory at DDR2-800. All of these new memories also reached DDR2-1067 and beyond. You can read more about high-performance DDR2 in our Conroe Buyers Guide.

Even value DDR2 became faster very quickly. Most of the value sticks are now using Elpida memory. These were rated at DDR2-667 or DDR2-533, but most managed to run at DDR2-800 at 4-3-3 timings at around 2.2V. None of the value RAM tested could reach DDR2-1067, but DDR2-800 at good timings is plenty fast for the majority of users. You will find a recent roundup of value DDR2 in the Value DDR2 section of the Conroe Buying Guide.

The enthusiast, by definition, is always looking for more - more speed, more power, more performance. The quest is for the best - performance so good and speeds so fast that no one can touch their results. You may even consider the enthusiast an elitist, but that is no different than the car enthusiast, a photography enthusiast, or any technology area where hobbyists can be found.

Corsair has a long and illustrious history as an innovator in the memory market. For many years the only recognizable brand of enthusiast memory was Corsair. OCZ has firmly established itself in recent years as one of the most creative makers of enthusiast memory with innovations like Extended Latency memory and high-voltage VX DIMMs for extreme overclockers. It was no surprise then, given the history of these two companies, to be contacted for a look at their newest and fastest DDR2 memory.

Both memory companies consider the modules tested here the best DDR2 they currently offer on the market. It is surprising then to see Corsair rate their DDR2 at DDR2-800 with specified 3-4-3 timings. OCZ rates the new Titanium Alpha at DDR2-1000 at 4-4-4 timings. As seen in the past, both OCZ and Corsair are often quite conservative in their ratings of their best memories. We were curious to see what these "best-of-the-best" could really do in our new Core 2 Extreme memory test bed.