DDR2-675 - A High Speed Update from Corsair and Kingston
Performance at Lowest Latency
To get this next batch of results, we manually lowered the latencies of each memory kit as low was the BIOS would allow, bumped up the memory voltage by 0.1V for each set of RAM, and slowly raised their clock speeds until our test system was no longer stable. We found that the Corsair XMS2 module were able to hit the tightest timings at 3-2-2-4 on the Asus P5WD2, with a maximum bus speed of 204MHz at a volatge of 2.2V. The Kingston HyperX modules would not cooperate at such low timings, however. Through a tedious process of changing one CAS rating, rebooting, testing, etc., we determined that the Kingston RAM would only be stable at 3-4-4-4 timings. We tried raising the voltages even further for the Kingston HyperX, up as far as 2.1V, but nothing we did would allow us to boot into Windows. Again, we were able to hit the same bus speed at these timings. It would appear that Corsair should increase their lead in the benchmarks, but the results may prove otherwise...
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As we mentioned, Corsair's modules were able to run with slightly better timings than Kingston's set, but both reached the same front side bus speed of 204MHz. With the memory running at a 3:5 FSB to Memory clock ratio, a 204MHz FSB equates to a 340MHz memory clock. The slight advantage that Corsair had with regard to the timings really didn't seem to effect the benchmark results. Corsair maintained the lead over Kingston that it had in the SPD tests, but the margin of difference remained mostly the same.
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As expected, when compared to their "stock" scores, both memory kits performed better with lower latencies. Each set gained about 100 points in this test when running at their tightest timings at slightly higher frequencies. The equal gains represent no distinct advantage in running at 3-2-2-4.
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When we re-ran the Unreal Tournament 2004 benchmarks, each setup increased frame rates by about 2 frames per second. In this test, the Kingston DDR2 kit actually made slightly higher gains than Corsair did, but the overall lead remained with Corsair. With less than a frame separating the two, the results are mostly a stalemate.
