 |
|
|
|
In the Forums... |
In operation
Our sample motherboard (Asus P5WD2 Premium, BIOS 0709) detected the memory without an issue and so we proceeded to perform the benchmarks and stability testing at various combinations of frequency, timings and voltages - it was a task that eventually required several cups of coffee and oh so many hours it isn't even funny. During tests involving a high DDR2 voltage of 2.3V and including dizzy operational frequencies (1000MHz effective or higher), the memory was never really overly warm hence there is no need for further cooling through the use of extra fans. The only instance where heat was the most likely the culprit was when testing speeds beyond 1066MHz (around 1080MHz and beyond). Here regardless what valid voltage or timings were used, the memory would always lock up after a few random minutes of running MemTest86 V1.65. Given that Corsair recently showed off a memory cooling solution at Computex, it's needless to say that pushing DDR2 speeds much further is going to require a little more than just the standard heatspreader. Back to life beyond Computex, this memory proved to offer considerable flexibility in the frequencies and timings it can operate. For example, at 667MHz (the current official Intel standard), it will quite happily do 3-2-2-8 at 2.2V and what's more the fun doesn't stop there. How about 5-5-5-15 at 1066MHz using 2.3V or 4-4-5-15 at 1000MHz equally using 2.3V. During testing it became obvious the memory preferred a higher RAS activate precharge timing when used at very high frequencies. Luckily for Crucial, this value is the least influential in final performance with CAS latency the most important, followed by a close second and third place held by RAS to CAS latency and RAS precharge respectively. Results like these make one wonder why Crucial only sells this memory at 5-5-5-15 or from a slightly different angle, why is it not stated to run at PC2-8500? The answer seems to be quite simple, to be on the safe side due to a) the various motherboards out there and their varying specifications and b) users who don’t quite yet know how to fine tune memory to best performance and are perhaps a little hesitant to go changing voltage levels etc. The results obtained are all worthy in their own way and prove the flexibility and versatility of this offering. One may either select the tightest timings at a lower frequency or go for gold at the heights of the Himalayas receiving in reward a hefty memory bandwidth and fine latency. Our test results later on in this review showcase the kind of bandwidth and latency we were able to attain.
 More than you paid for? Although Crucial sells the memory as PC2-8000, it happily runs at PC2-8500 speeds.
Software #1: MemTest86 V1.65 (to test memory stability)
Test 2: (memory bandwidth)
Test 3: (memory latency)
Definition of memory timings
Other information relating to testing:
|
||
|
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
