Super Talent & TEAM Join the Fast DDR2 Club
by Wesley Fink on October 10, 2006 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Final Words
Our first encounter with the new Micron D memory chips came with our review of OCZ EL PC2-8000 XTC in early spring. We were impressed with the performance then, and our admiration for the performance capabilities of this DDR2 chip has only grown since. This was the fastest DDR2 memory ever tested at AnandTech, and it also scaled easily to the new DDR2-800 speed to be supported by AM2 and Conroe, on to the DDR2-1067 future speed, and beyond to DDR2-1100. It reached those levels at the fastest memory timings we had seen with DDR2. This DDR2 memory was clearly the new DDR2 standard and we awarded the OCZ EL PC2-8000 XTC our Gold Editors Choice.
With the subsequent launch of AMD AM2 and the launch of the Intel Core 2 Duo, memory based on Micron memory chips has benefited even more. AM2 was not really much of a performance boost, but the DDR2 memory scales very well on AM2. Core 2 Duo does not make as much use of the DDR2 bandwidth as AM2, but it frankly doesn't need it. Core 2 Duo has turned out to be one of the largest performance increases we have ever seen with a new processor, and the brute performance strength of C2D more than offsets any memory performance advantage for AM2. AM2 is clearly a better memory platform in raw bandwidth than Core 2 Duo, and that fact may come back into play in the future. For now it is a moot point.
In the past two months memory prices have increased significantly. For that reason alone, buyers are looking much more closely at memory prices and comparison-shopping. The two memories tested here, the Super Talent DDR2-1000 and the TEAM DDR2-1000, are both an excellent choice in your comparison shopping. In general they perform just as well as the most expensive DDR2 at the critical DDR2-800 and DDR2-667 speeds, running with stability at 3-3-3 and 3-2-3 timings, just like the top DDR2 memory. While neither will overclock quite as far as the top memory we have tested, both do reach DDR2-1067 with ease. While they top out at 1080/1084, the practical difference between these top speeds and 1100+ is pretty minimal. The message here is if you can find Super Talent or TEAM at a cheaper price than the other top DDR2-1000 and up brands then buy it. You will get good value.
There is one caveat, however. The TEAM is definitely the better performer of the two tested brands. It requires a little less voltage at each speed for stability, and it matches the timings of the best DDR2 we have ever tested at all the stock speeds. The Super Talent performs much the same at 667 and 800, but it requires slightly slower timings at DDR2-1067. Therefore if you plan to run your memory at DDR2-1067 choose TEAM or another top DDR2 instead.
It is fair to ask if there is any real reason to run your memory faster than DDR2-800. The answer is Yes, provided your memory is capable of 4-3-4 timings at 1067 like the top memory we have tested. There are small but real performance advantages for any of these memories running at DDR2-1067, as you can see in the performance charts. 4-3-4 timings at 1067 is fast enough to make the 1067 speed a performance advantage, and the TEAM DDR2-1067 and the other top DDR2 memories can run at these timings with complete stability at 2.2V to 2.4V.
When we looked at High-Performance DDR2 in the Conroe Buying Guide, it was clear that the performance we first saw with the OCZ EL PC2-8000 was now available from a wider group of memory manufacturers. OCZ, Corsair, and Mushkin stood out at the top of the group of six, but frankly any of the six could deliver the kind of performance that could make a difference in a top Core 2 or AM2 system. That included the 2GB kits from Buffalo, Kingston, and Crucial. You can now add TEAM to that group of top performers, with Super Talent just an SPD upgrade away from the same level of performance. With memory prices high, this gives you a wide range of brands that will generally satisfy in your quest for the best performance you can achieve in computing.
The TEAM and Super Talent will not displace our top two performers in recent tests - the Corsair 6400C3 and the OCZ Ti Alpha PC2-8000 VX2 both use special binning of these Micron memory chips to push performance and overclocking up another level. The advantage for these two is not huge, but it is definitely real. But just below the absolute best there are now many brands that will bring you competitive memory performance up to DDR2-1067. TEAM and Super Talent join that group.
Our first encounter with the new Micron D memory chips came with our review of OCZ EL PC2-8000 XTC in early spring. We were impressed with the performance then, and our admiration for the performance capabilities of this DDR2 chip has only grown since. This was the fastest DDR2 memory ever tested at AnandTech, and it also scaled easily to the new DDR2-800 speed to be supported by AM2 and Conroe, on to the DDR2-1067 future speed, and beyond to DDR2-1100. It reached those levels at the fastest memory timings we had seen with DDR2. This DDR2 memory was clearly the new DDR2 standard and we awarded the OCZ EL PC2-8000 XTC our Gold Editors Choice.
With the subsequent launch of AMD AM2 and the launch of the Intel Core 2 Duo, memory based on Micron memory chips has benefited even more. AM2 was not really much of a performance boost, but the DDR2 memory scales very well on AM2. Core 2 Duo does not make as much use of the DDR2 bandwidth as AM2, but it frankly doesn't need it. Core 2 Duo has turned out to be one of the largest performance increases we have ever seen with a new processor, and the brute performance strength of C2D more than offsets any memory performance advantage for AM2. AM2 is clearly a better memory platform in raw bandwidth than Core 2 Duo, and that fact may come back into play in the future. For now it is a moot point.
In the past two months memory prices have increased significantly. For that reason alone, buyers are looking much more closely at memory prices and comparison-shopping. The two memories tested here, the Super Talent DDR2-1000 and the TEAM DDR2-1000, are both an excellent choice in your comparison shopping. In general they perform just as well as the most expensive DDR2 at the critical DDR2-800 and DDR2-667 speeds, running with stability at 3-3-3 and 3-2-3 timings, just like the top DDR2 memory. While neither will overclock quite as far as the top memory we have tested, both do reach DDR2-1067 with ease. While they top out at 1080/1084, the practical difference between these top speeds and 1100+ is pretty minimal. The message here is if you can find Super Talent or TEAM at a cheaper price than the other top DDR2-1000 and up brands then buy it. You will get good value.
There is one caveat, however. The TEAM is definitely the better performer of the two tested brands. It requires a little less voltage at each speed for stability, and it matches the timings of the best DDR2 we have ever tested at all the stock speeds. The Super Talent performs much the same at 667 and 800, but it requires slightly slower timings at DDR2-1067. Therefore if you plan to run your memory at DDR2-1067 choose TEAM or another top DDR2 instead.
It is fair to ask if there is any real reason to run your memory faster than DDR2-800. The answer is Yes, provided your memory is capable of 4-3-4 timings at 1067 like the top memory we have tested. There are small but real performance advantages for any of these memories running at DDR2-1067, as you can see in the performance charts. 4-3-4 timings at 1067 is fast enough to make the 1067 speed a performance advantage, and the TEAM DDR2-1067 and the other top DDR2 memories can run at these timings with complete stability at 2.2V to 2.4V.
When we looked at High-Performance DDR2 in the Conroe Buying Guide, it was clear that the performance we first saw with the OCZ EL PC2-8000 was now available from a wider group of memory manufacturers. OCZ, Corsair, and Mushkin stood out at the top of the group of six, but frankly any of the six could deliver the kind of performance that could make a difference in a top Core 2 or AM2 system. That included the 2GB kits from Buffalo, Kingston, and Crucial. You can now add TEAM to that group of top performers, with Super Talent just an SPD upgrade away from the same level of performance. With memory prices high, this gives you a wide range of brands that will generally satisfy in your quest for the best performance you can achieve in computing.
The TEAM and Super Talent will not displace our top two performers in recent tests - the Corsair 6400C3 and the OCZ Ti Alpha PC2-8000 VX2 both use special binning of these Micron memory chips to push performance and overclocking up another level. The advantage for these two is not huge, but it is definitely real. But just below the absolute best there are now many brands that will bring you competitive memory performance up to DDR2-1067. TEAM and Super Talent join that group.
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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.