Kingston Launches Low-Latency DDR3

Super Pi

To look at pure number crunching, Super Pi 1.5 was run in all memory test configurations. Super Pi is a very simple program as it merely calculates the value of Pi to a designated number of decimal positions. In this case we chose 2 Million places.

SuperPi 1.5 - 2.66GHz Results in Seconds - Lower is Better
Memory	800	1066	1333	1520 (380x7)
Kingston DDR3-1333 KHX11000D3LLK2	46.27 5-4-3-10 1.75V	45.42 6-5-5-12 1.7V	45.22 7-7-6-15 1.7V	45.31 8-8-8-22 1.8V
Corsair DDR3-1066 CM3X1024-1066C7	46.89 6-6-6-15 1.5V	45.93 7-7-7-20 1.5V	45.77 9-9-9-25 1.5V	-
DDR2 - P35 Corsair Dominator	45.78 3-3-3-9 2.25V	45.20 4-4-3-11 2.3V	-	-
DDR2 - P965 (10x266) Corsair Dominator	46.05 3-3-3-9 2.25V	45.39 4-4-3-11 2.3V	-	-

As predicted in the unbuffered memory tests, Super Pi is fastest on the DDR2 low latency platforms, with P35 at 800 3-3-3 and 1066 4-4-3 the fastest in the overlap speeds. The P65 running the same memory is close behind. Lower Latency DDR3 now has Kingston at almost the same level in Super Pi as the P965 in overlap speeds. DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1500+ exclusively belong to DDR3.

It is interesting that the Kingston DDR3-1375 nearly closes the gap with the fastest 3-3-3 DDR2 memory available. This early introduction of lower latency DDR3 clearly demonstrates you will not have to give up a thing with DDR3 in the overlap speeds and you will gain higher speeds as well. The only current roadblock to DDR3 is the high price of admission. When that drops to near parity with DDR2 the logical choice will be DDR3.

Overclocking

Overclocked Memory Performance
Benchmark Applications-	7x380 - 2.66GHz DDR3-1520 8-8-8-22	8x380 - 3.04GHz DDR3-1520 8-8-8-22	8x375 - 3.00GHz DDR3-1500 7-7-7-15
Sandra (Buffered) Memory Bandwidth: Higher is Better	7329	7462	7506
Sandra (UnBuffered) Memory Bandwidth: Higher is Better	5172	5263	5390
Super Pi 1.5: Time in Seconds - Lower is Better	45.31	40.40	40.70
Far Cry: Frames Per Second - Higher is Better	107.46	117.82	118.60
Quake 4 - id Demo: Frames Per Second - Higher is Better	116.0	123.5	124.2
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast: Frames Per Second - Higher is Better	109.5	111.5	112.1

The highest overclock that could be reached with stability with Kingston DDR3-1375 was 1520 at 8-8-8-22 timings at 1.8V. While we managed to boot at speeds as high as 1552, the performance was not stable enough to consistently run our test suite. While voltages as high as 1.9V worked for a while with added memory fans, it did not remain stable. The highest stable voltage that worked long term with air cooling is 1.8V.

There is more to the overclocking performance of the Kingston than just the 1520 number, however. The memory is rated at 7-7-7-timings, which is fast for a memory rated at DDR3-1375. This memory managed to reach 1500 memory speed at 7-7-7-20 timings at 1.8V. While it did reach 20MHz higher with slower 8-8-8 timings, it simply is not worth the slower timings for the small gain in speed. For best performance consider the Kingston a 7-7-7 memory to 1500 speed and ignore the higher timings

It is a significant advantage with the P35 chipset motherboards that every Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processor we tested on the P35 boards ran at 1333 speeds at the stock multiplier without the need to increase voltage. This is a significant, free, and pain-free overclock provided courtesy of the new 1333 bus speed option. This little side effect will make the P35 with DDR2 a favorite overclocker's board with current Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors. A $189 E6420 can perform even better than an E6700 just by selecting a 1333 bus on P35 and leaving everything else at default. A $500 Q6600 can outperform the QX6700 with just a bus speed change.