New DDR Highs: Shikatronics, OCZ, and the Fastest Memory Yet

Performance Test Configuration

We tested both the OCZ PC4400EL Gold and the ShikaXRAM PC4400 on our standard Intel Pentium 4 Memory testbed. The hardware for evaluating these two new memories is the same used in our earlier reviews of DDR400 and faster Memory.

The Return of 2-2-2: Corsair 3200XL & Samsung PC4000
OCZ 3700EB: Making Hay with Athlon 64
OCZ 3500EB: The Importance of Balanced Memory Timings
Mushkin PC3200 2-2-2 Special: Last of a Legend
PMI DDR533: A New Name in High-Performance Memory
Samsung PC3700: DDR466 Memory for the Masses
Kingmax Hardcore Memory: Tiny BGA Reaches For Top Speed
New Memory Highs: Corsair and OCZ Introduce DDR550
OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev. 2: The Universal Soldier
OCZ 4200EL: Tops in Memory Performance
Mushkin PC4000 High Performance: DDR500 PLUS
Corsair TwinX1024-4000 PRO: Improving DDR500 Performance
Mushkin & Adata: 2 for the Fast-Timings Lane
Searching for the Memory Holy Grail - Part 2

All test conditions were as close as possible to those used in our earlier memory reviews. We have also eliminated from our charts any memory that has been discontinued, including Winbond BH5 versions from several vendors and earlier versions of several current memory products.

INTEL 875P Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s):	Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz (800MHz FSB)
RAM:	2 x 512MB ShikaXRAM PC4400 (DS) 2 x 512MB OCZ PC4400 EL Gold (DS) 2 x 512MB Corsair 3200XL PRO (DS) 2 x 256MB Samsung PC4000 (SS) 2 x 512MB OCZ 3700EB (DS) 2 x 512MB OCZ 3500EB (DS) 2 x 512MB Mushkin 2-2-2 Special (DS) 2 x 512MB PMI4200 Gold (DDR533 DS) 4 x 256MB Samsung PC3700 (DDR466 SS) 2 x 512MB Kingmax DDR500 Hardcore Series (DS) 2 x 512MB Kingmax DDR466 Hardcore Series (DS) 2 x 512MB Corsair XMS4400v1.1 TwinX (DS) 2 x 512MB OCZ PC4400 DC Kit (DS) 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev. 2 (DS) 2 x 512MB OCZ 4200EL(DS) 2 x 512MB Mushkin PC4000 High Performance (DS) 2 x 512MB Corsair TwinX4000 PRO (DS) 2 x 256MB Adata DDR450 (SS) 2 x 512MB Adata PC4000 (DS) 2 x 512MB Corsair PC4000 (DS) 2 x 512MB Geil PC4000 (DS) 2 x 512MB OCZ PC4000 (DS)
Hard Drives:	2 Western Digital Raptor Serial ATA 36.7GB 10,000RPM drives in an Intel ICH5R RAID configuration
PCI/AGP Speed:	Fixed at 33/66
Bus Master Drivers:	875P Intel INF Update v5.00.1012, SATA RAID drivers installed, but IAA NOT installed
Video Card(s):	ATI 9800 PRO 128MB, 128MB aperture, 1024x768x32
Video Drivers:	ATI Catalyst 4.6
Power Supply:	Vantec Stealth 470 Watt Aluminum
Operating System(s):	Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards:	Asus P4C800-E (875) with 1016 Release BIOS

We have found the fastest performance on Intel 865/875 to be achieved at Cycle Time or tRAS of 5, or the fastest tRAS setting that is stable with the tested memory. Intel platform benchmarks were run with the fastest stable tRAS timings that we could achieve with the memory being tested.

Test Settings

We ran our standard suite of memory performance benchmarks. The following settings were tested with both ShikaXRAM PC4400 and OCZ PC4400EL Gold:

1. 800FSB/DDR400 - the highest stock speed supported on 875/865 and K8T800/nF3/SiS755 motherboards.
2. 1000FSB/DDR500 - a standard speed rating that we have used in testing the highest speed memory available.
3. 1100FSB/DDR550 - the rated speed of both ShikaXRAM PC4400 and OCZ PC4400EL Gold.
4. Highest Stable Overclock - the highest settings we could achieve with this memory and other memory that we have tested.

These are the same general settings used in benchmarking other memory in the above list of memory tests. DDR400, DDR500 and Highest Memory Speed have been used for all benchmarking. DDR550 has only been tested in the past for modules with this speed rating, and are included where available.

AMD Athlon64 Tests

We verified that both the Shikatronics and OCZ DDR550 could run at DDR500 on several of the Athlon64 Socket 939 motherboards that we are currently testing. However, we could not achieve stable operation at DDR550 with any of the boards that we are testing. We are in the process of evaluating a number of Athlon64 Socket 939 boards, and we will standardize on an A64 memory test bed in the near future.

Please keep in mind that only the Asus P4C800-E and DFI LANParty 875B manage to run consistently at DDR550 1:1 in our Intel tests. The fact that DDR550 would not run on the Athlon 64 test beds in our lab does not mean that DDR550 will not run on Athlon 64. In fact, we had no problem running DDR533 speed on the MSI K8N Neo2 and a pre-release Asus A8V Deluxe. When we have completed reviews of the new Socket 939 motherboards, we will select a motherboard for our Athlon 64 Memory Test platform.