Super Talent & TEAM Join the Fast DDR2 Club
by Wesley Fink on October 10, 2006 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Overclocking Performance (Highest Ratio at Highest Speed)
The TEAM and Super Talent DDR2-1000 memories both performed well beyond their rated DDR2-1000 speed. The TEAM reached 1084, while the Super Talent reached a similar 1080. Neither of these are record overclocks, but they are both in the ball park for performance of the best DDR2 memory. Both also performed very well at DDR2-1067, which should be considered the practical limit of overclocking for either memory.
What this overclocking chart cannot show is the timing and voltage advantages the TEAM memory enjoyed compared to the Super Talent. The timings of the TEAM matched the best DDR2 memory and the voltages needed for stability were very similar to other top-performing DDR2. The Super Talent required a bit more voltage at every speed and the timings required for stability at the top and bottom of the benchmark tests were a bit slower than other top DDR2 memory we have tested. It would be a mistake, however, to put too much weight on the small differences we found in these tests. In the all-important DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 ratios performance of the Super Talent was all but identical to TEAM and the other top DDR2 memories we have tested.
The TEAM and Super Talent DDR2-1000 memories both performed well beyond their rated DDR2-1000 speed. The TEAM reached 1084, while the Super Talent reached a similar 1080. Neither of these are record overclocks, but they are both in the ball park for performance of the best DDR2 memory. Both also performed very well at DDR2-1067, which should be considered the practical limit of overclocking for either memory.
What this overclocking chart cannot show is the timing and voltage advantages the TEAM memory enjoyed compared to the Super Talent. The timings of the TEAM matched the best DDR2 memory and the voltages needed for stability were very similar to other top-performing DDR2. The Super Talent required a bit more voltage at every speed and the timings required for stability at the top and bottom of the benchmark tests were a bit slower than other top DDR2 memory we have tested. It would be a mistake, however, to put too much weight on the small differences we found in these tests. In the all-important DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 ratios performance of the Super Talent was all but identical to TEAM and the other top DDR2 memories we have tested.
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Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - link
As I stated in the review, we have yet to see a value DDR2-800 that will run at DDR2-1067. The value parts we have tested with Elpida chips can achieve 4-3-3 timings at DDR2-800. We tested and showed results in the Conroe Buying Guide. Part 2 of that guide is in the works and will include more value RAM.Guuts - Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - link
Thanks Wes.deathwalker - Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - link
These modules certainly appear to be a "no go" for most of the 1.8 vlt. C2D platforms...and there certainly seem to be many of them out there that only offer modest voltage settings above 1.8 vlts.Gary Key - Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - link
This would have been true early on with most of the P965 boards. However, as the bios and memory SPDs have matured this is no longer the case for the vast majority of P965 boards. I have not had an issue with the high end PC2-8000 and up modules booting properly at this time in most of the P965 boards with the latest bios, the lone exception being the Intel branded boards. However, unless you have a E6300/E6400, a very overclocking friendly board, and are benchmarking for money then there are better choices in the DDR2-800 family for the P965 setup. ;-)duploxxx - Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - link
We all know memory performance is much more important on AM2, so what's the point on reviewing it only on Core.You should add the performance benches of the fx to this chart. But I am sure you won't. Because many know what will happen to the performance crown when using such memory to the AMD system (without the trick of lowering cas to memoryspeed you did in your performance king review), but marketing is at a whole other level these days.....
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - link
I stated in the review that AMD bandwidth goes up more than Core2Duo as memory speed increases. We showed that in our C2D vs. AM2 article. However, even with the massively increased bandwidth AM2 performance does not increase accordingly - and we also showed that in our earlier review. The fact is that the current AM2 design is not memory bandwidth starved, so the memory bandwidth improvements have almost no impact on performance. In the future AM2 die-shrink, with perhaps a memory controller update, we might see AM2 make better use of it's memory bandwidth advantage. When that happens, we will definitely report it.