OCZ VX Memory + DFI nForce4 = DDR533 at 2-2-2
by Wesley Fink on March 4, 2005 6:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
In the past year, we have seen lots of memory rated at DDR500, so you may wonder why we are reviewing a new DDR500 memory today when there are now a few rare modules rated as high as DDR600. The answer is pretty simple, since OCZ PC4000 VX Gold is the only memory that we have ever seen rated at DDR500 2-2-2. While it is rated at DDR500 at these extraordinary 2-2-2 timings, it also carries a very high rated voltage of 3.3V - far beyond what most motherboards can supply.
A quick check of orbs at FutureMark will show that this new VX is the fast darling of the extreme overclocking market. For those who wondered why DFI included voltages to 4.0V in their new nForce4 Ultra and SLI motherboards, the answer is OCZ VX memory. With VX needing voltages as high as 3.7V to really reach top performance at certain speeds, the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR and DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D are the first production motherboards to support the kind of extreme voltages needed by VX without modification.
With this promise of extraordinary DDR500 2-2-2 performance, we were very interested to see if this performance promise was real. Have we finally reached DDR500 with the fastest timings available? The answers in our benchmarks are very interesting.
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Wesley Fink - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
#26 - You need to take a close look at DDR400 2-2-2 VX vs. DDR400 2-2-2 with any other ram we have tested. The biggest news with VX is how fast the chips are at the same speed and timings compared to other chips, which we talked about in the article. There IS a difference in performance from DDR400 2-2-2 to DDR533 2-2-2 at the same clock speed but it is smaller than many imagine as I pointed out in the review. We have set up our AMD tests to really measure the impact of memory - removing as many other variables as possible.Beenthere - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
Sorry but I don't see any justification for over-voltage RAM as the system performance increase is marginal at best. The cost doesn't justify the minimal gains. In addition more voltage = more heat, any way you slice it. This is more marketing hype and no measurable system performance increase as we've seen before from OCZ. Between OCZ and "DFI's gullible PC enthusiast product line", I'm sure they are laughing all the way to the bank. PT Barnum was correct...ChiefNutz - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
The Article said that fourm rumors said the chips were built by winbond. I Though winbond left the memory market? anyone know any different??Wesley Fink - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
Obviously the RTCW-ET results with VX at 2-3-2 are 116.7 with 61.77 vs. 119.3 with 71.80. This compares to our previous fastest 2-2-2 DDR400 at 110.8. We really do need the ability to correct in the comments section :-)Wesley Fink - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
#15 - I did test with 61.77 to make sure the results were not too skewed by the newer 71.80 driver. Q3 and RTCW are slower with 61.77 but this is offset by the memroy bandwidth scores being higher. I just quickly ran 61.77 at 2-3-2-6 and 2,.6v since that was your greatest interest. Q3-554.1 (vs. 567.4), RTCW-ET-116.7 (vs.199.3), Sandra UNbuffered-2949 (vs.2927). The 61.77 results at 2-3-2 are still significantly higher than any 2-2-2 results at 400.#17 - In our launch review we clearly showed the MSI Neo2 to be the same performance as nF4. We have also shown in the past that AGP and PCIe using the same card are the same performance. Since the MSI does not support these extreme voltages we had to make some changes to test VX - which we detailed in the review.
I realize many of you do not want to believe that a memory running 2-3-2 can outperform another memory running 2-2-2 at the same speed, but this is not unique to VX. It is just that VX is an extreme example of a chip being faster at the same speed. Go back to benchmarks that included BH5 and you will see it is faster than TCCD at the same speed and timings.
LX - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
Another typo: "OCZ LANParty nForce4"Hey, Anand, let Wesley have some sleep between reviews!
chr6 - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
typo on last page, its enhanced bandwidth not extended, if i remember correctly.chr6 - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
EddNog - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
"Pwned."No, really...
"Pwned."
Rocket321 - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link
Now that you wont need all that extra ocz platinum r2, feel free to send some my way ;)