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

Test Results: ShikaXRAM PC4400

To be considered stable for test purposes, Quake3 benchmark, UT2003 Demo, Super PI, Aquamark 3, and Comanche 4 had to complete without incident. Any of these, and in particular Super PI, will crash a less-than stable memory configuration. "Return to Castle Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory" is proving to be a sensitive benchmark for memory testing. We have included results for RCW-ET using the Radar benchmark.

ShikaXRAM PC4400 - 2 x 512Mb Double-Bank
Speed	Memory Timings & Voltage	Quake3 fps	Sandra UNBuffered	Sandra Standard Buffered	Super PI 2M places (time in sec)	Wolfenstein - Radar - Enemy Territory fps
400DDR 800FSB	2-3-3-5 2.5V	325.4	INT 2742 FLT 2775	INT 4453 FLT 4444	132	69.2
500DDR 1000FSB	2.5-3-4-6 2.65V	398.7	INT 3286 FLT 3252	INT 5501 FLT 5503	107	86.0
550DDR 1100FSB	3-4-4-7 2.75V	430.3	INT 3490 FLT 3479	INT 6026 FLT 6026	98	92.2
580DDR 1160	3-4-4-7 2.85V	451.8	INT 3758 FLT 3727	INT 6328 FLT 6334	92	97.1

We would have been very pleased to see a new memory brand for AnandTech just hold their own in our memory tests against the best Enthusiast memory that you can buy. It was more than surprising, then, to find ShikaXRAM PC4400 to be the fastest memory that we have yet tested. It is exciting to see a FSB setting of 290 run with complete stability on our test P4C800-E. It would not be fair or consistent, however, to make too much of the ShikaXRAM speed record. The performance of the Shikatronics and OCZ PC4400 modules is consistent across the board, and the OCZ PC4400 is actually a bit faster at some slower speeds. The variations between the two memories is less than you might find in any production run of DIMMs with the latest Hynix B chips, and the performance has to be considered equivalent.