Corsair TwinX1024-3200XL Memory Review
Enthusiasts
want fast memory with aggressive timings. Luckily for you and I, Corsair have just released some new PC3200 DDR memory which
is rated to run at 200 MHz, with a CAS latency of 2-2-2-5! Of course, we couldn't wait
to get our hands on some of this memory for testing!
This new Corsair XL line is surely
a sign of good things to come, but you may have to wait a little while before
other memory manufacturers release anything like it. Over the next few pages
PCstats will be testing out a
set of Corsair TwinX 1024-3200XL
DDR 512MB memory modules, using the above-mentioned 2-2-2-5 memory timings
at 200MHz. Sweet memory, indeed. These chips sport Corsair's
standard black aluminium heat spreaders.
If you're into overclocking,
you'll be interested to hear that Corsair's own internal tests show this DDR RAM
is capable of running up to 250 MHz, with timings of 2.5-3-3-7 (with a modest
voltage increase)! That means this memory should be faster than equivalent
PC4000 DIMMs. We'll be testing this ourselves naturally, but it does indicate
just how flexible this memory could be for the overclocker.
Memory
Test Methodology
PCstats tests
DDR memory on
two major CPU platforms - the AMD Athlon64 and the Intel Pentium 4 - because
RAM
behaves differently on each processor architecture. For instance, Intel users tend to
run their memory at high speeds with high latency settings, and in general that
works quite well for Intel-based computers. It would be detrimental to system
performance if you were to run the same DDR memory settings on an AMD Athlon64
system, since latency plays a much larger role in system performance. Because
much of our audience is made up of enthusiasts, PCstats also runs overclocking
tests so you can get an idea of how far the memory can be pushed.
On both Intel and AMD test PCs,
we're only interested in seeing how high we can go with the memory running 1:1.
Running with other dividers puts the overclocking bottleneck elsewhere, not with the
system memory. On the Pentium 4 test system we sometimes use higher latencies in
our tests, as latencies are not as important. With the AMD Athlon64 test system,
the DDR RAM latency must run at 2-2-2-5 or the memory's tightest possible
timings, as quick access is more important to the CPU design.
|
PCStats Test System Specs: |
|
system 1 |
system 2 |
processor: |
amd athlon64 3200+ |
intel pentium 4 2.4c |
clock
speed: |
10 x 200 mhz = 2 ghz 9 x 225 mhz = 2.03 ghz |
12 x 200 mhz = 2.4 ghz 12 x 260 mhz = 3.12
ghz |
motherboards: |
asus k8v dlx, k8t800 |
abit ic7-max3, i875p |
videocard: |
asus radeon 9800xt |
ati radeon 9800xt |
memory: |
2x 512mb corsair twinx 4000* 2x 512mb ocz pc3200
plat ltd ed. 2x 512mb corsair twinx 3200 xl** |
hard drive:
|
40gb wd special
ed |
20gb wd
hdd |
cdrom: |
msi x48
cd-rw/dvd-rom |
nec 52x cd-rom |
powersupply: |
vantec stealth
470w |
pc power & cooling
510w |
software
setup |
windowsxp build 2600 via 4in1 4.51v catalyst 4.8 |
windowsxp build 2600 intel inf 5.02.1012 catalyst
4.8 |
benchmarks
|
business winstone 2002 sisoft sandra
2004 pcmark2002 pcmark04 3dmark2001se ut2003 | |