Mushkin XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2 – Xtreme Performance Memory
by Steve Carmel & Wesley Fink on March 28, 2006 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Overclocking Memory Timings and Concerns
We were able to overclock using the DDR2-400, DDR2-533, DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 memory straps, although using the DDR2-800 memory strap did require looser timings. With an Intel chipset, the main memory always runs at a specified ratio, which is in relation to the clock rate for the system itself (AKA the FSB). Most modern chipset vendors now offer a wide range of memory ratios among the BIOS settings, so there are many choices for stock memory speed and base speed for overclocking.
As mentioned before, both the Intel NB 945 and 955x chipsets offer four distinct clocking ratios: 1:1, 3:4, 3:5 and 2:1. Proceeding from the base rate of 200 MHz (which translates to FSB800 for DDR2-400), this allows DDR2-400, DDR2-533, DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 settings. Now that DDR2 memory is maturing, manufacturers are finally addressing the increasing market for faster DDR2 at tighter memory timings. The DDR2 race for timings and speed will pick up pace with the introduction of the AMD AM2 socket and Intel Conroe later this year.
You can overclock an Intel system by just raising the front side bus speeds while you lower the memory ratio. The CPU clocks also work on a multiple of the front side bus clock speeds.
Since the Presler 955 Extreme Edition processor utilizes a 1066 MHz bus speed, it allows us to use the 1:1 memory to FSB clock ratio when the front side bus speed is set to 266 megahertz. Keep in mind that the Intel FSB is quad-pumped, which is why a setting of 266 yields a FSB of 1066 (4x266). DDR2 Memory on the Intel platform, however, is Double Data Rate by definition, so a 266 base setting is 533 (2x266). The chart below indicates relative scaling with front side bus speed increases for comparative purposes. SiSoft Sandra Professional Buffered and Unbuffered memory scoring were both included in benchmarking, along with Super PI mod 1.4 time to calculate 2 million places in seconds. The Half Life 2 - Lost Coast benchmark was run at a 1024 x 768 resolution at maximum quality settings with HDR enabled. Far Cry was set for ultra quality in the settings with a resolution of 1024 x 768.
You'll see from the chart below that the Mushkin PC2-5300 memory was able to maintain its relatively tight timings of 3-3-3-10 up to DDR 700 speeds with no problems.
There is a very little gaming performance gain using more relaxed memory timings necessary at the higher memory ratios, which has been a known issue with DDR2, especially on an Intel platform.
Although not included on the chart below, other games ran well with no issues using the Mushkin modules. Doom 3, at default settings, ran at 76.5 frames per second using the built-in time demo; while at 350 x 13, with a 1:1 ratio at 3-3-3-10, Doom 3 scored 89.3 frames per second. With the same settings, Quake 4 benchmarked at default at 139.1 FPS and reached 190.9 FPS at 350 x 13.
In most cases, the 13x350 timings yielded the best 1:1 memory performance, with higher game frame rates and unbuffered memory performance with the 3-3-3-10 timings. For this reason, the Highest Memory Speed (1:1) reported in the charts on the next page are based on the highest FSB speed at the 13 multiplier.
We were able to overclock using the DDR2-400, DDR2-533, DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 memory straps, although using the DDR2-800 memory strap did require looser timings. With an Intel chipset, the main memory always runs at a specified ratio, which is in relation to the clock rate for the system itself (AKA the FSB). Most modern chipset vendors now offer a wide range of memory ratios among the BIOS settings, so there are many choices for stock memory speed and base speed for overclocking.
As mentioned before, both the Intel NB 945 and 955x chipsets offer four distinct clocking ratios: 1:1, 3:4, 3:5 and 2:1. Proceeding from the base rate of 200 MHz (which translates to FSB800 for DDR2-400), this allows DDR2-400, DDR2-533, DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 settings. Now that DDR2 memory is maturing, manufacturers are finally addressing the increasing market for faster DDR2 at tighter memory timings. The DDR2 race for timings and speed will pick up pace with the introduction of the AMD AM2 socket and Intel Conroe later this year.
You can overclock an Intel system by just raising the front side bus speeds while you lower the memory ratio. The CPU clocks also work on a multiple of the front side bus clock speeds.
Since the Presler 955 Extreme Edition processor utilizes a 1066 MHz bus speed, it allows us to use the 1:1 memory to FSB clock ratio when the front side bus speed is set to 266 megahertz. Keep in mind that the Intel FSB is quad-pumped, which is why a setting of 266 yields a FSB of 1066 (4x266). DDR2 Memory on the Intel platform, however, is Double Data Rate by definition, so a 266 base setting is 533 (2x266). The chart below indicates relative scaling with front side bus speed increases for comparative purposes. SiSoft Sandra Professional Buffered and Unbuffered memory scoring were both included in benchmarking, along with Super PI mod 1.4 time to calculate 2 million places in seconds. The Half Life 2 - Lost Coast benchmark was run at a 1024 x 768 resolution at maximum quality settings with HDR enabled. Far Cry was set for ultra quality in the settings with a resolution of 1024 x 768.
You'll see from the chart below that the Mushkin PC2-5300 memory was able to maintain its relatively tight timings of 3-3-3-10 up to DDR 700 speeds with no problems.
There is a very little gaming performance gain using more relaxed memory timings necessary at the higher memory ratios, which has been a known issue with DDR2, especially on an Intel platform.
Although not included on the chart below, other games ran well with no issues using the Mushkin modules. Doom 3, at default settings, ran at 76.5 frames per second using the built-in time demo; while at 350 x 13, with a 1:1 ratio at 3-3-3-10, Doom 3 scored 89.3 frames per second. With the same settings, Quake 4 benchmarked at default at 139.1 FPS and reached 190.9 FPS at 350 x 13.
| Mushkin XP2 PC2-5300 (DDR2- 533 - 1:1 Overclocked) - 2x1GB Double-Bank | |||||||
| CPU Settings | Memory Speed 1:1 |
Memory Timings & Voltage | Far Cry fps | Sandra Unbuffered | Sandra Standard Buffered | Super PI Mod 1.4 2M places (time in sec) | Half Life 2 Lost Coast fps |
| 13x267 | 533 DDR | 3-3-3-10 1T 2.1V |
62.07 | INT 3402 FLT 3417 |
INT 6448 FLT 6451 |
85.7 | 78.2 |
| 13x333 | 666 DDR | 3-3-3-10 1T 2.3V |
76.26 | INT 4295 FLT 4296 |
INT 8109 FLT 8073 |
68.5 | 86.2 |
| 13x350 | 700 DDR | 3-3-3-10 1T 2.3V |
82.69 | INT 4442 FLT 4516 |
INT 8476 FLT 8493 |
65.2 | 87.9 |
| 12x370 (4.45 GHz) |
Highest Mem Speed 740 DDR |
5-5-5-15 1T 2.3V |
79.51 | INT 4076 FLT 4116 |
INT 8679 FLT 8662 |
67.6 | 86.3 |
In most cases, the 13x350 timings yielded the best 1:1 memory performance, with higher game frame rates and unbuffered memory performance with the 3-3-3-10 timings. For this reason, the Highest Memory Speed (1:1) reported in the charts on the next page are based on the highest FSB speed at the 13 multiplier.
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rallyhard - Friday, June 23, 2006 - link
NOTE:Under "Anandtech Deals" at the top of each page of the review, there is a link called " Mushkin 2 x 1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 RAM". This link will take you to Mushkin part #991382 memory, which that page will tell you has 4-4-4 timings. Newegg will tell you this RAM has 5-5-5 timings. In any case, the RAM this link refers to is not the same stuff that they reviewed. The reviewed RAM is 3-3-3 timings, which I'm assuming must be Mushkin part #991512.
artifex - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
Wow, last time I had a warranty return at Mushkin, I just emailed them their serials and they shipped me replacements overnight with my credit card as collateral for the return. Of course, I bought from their website, not from a retail store... but there was no talk of packaging. What packaging? :)Has Mushkin changed owners?
bldckstark - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
On page 7 you show the Mushkin memory at the top of the graph with 65.1 and all other memories have lower times. To be consistent with all of your other graphs the rankings are apparently reversed since the super pi results are "lower is better", and the Mushkin should have finished last, not first and be on the bottom of the graph, not the top. Unless I forgot to take my medicine today, again, and I am reading the article upside down, again.Nice article. I'll keep waiting for the latencies to come down so that we might see some life out of AM2 against Conroe.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
The Super Pi chart is now in Ascending order as it should be. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.Pirks - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
I recall buying some Mushkin stuff a long time ago. A HUGE price AFAIR and then one DDR stick died and they replaced it no questions asked. But now, after checking out their prices and seeing noname 2 GB DDR sticks for $200 CAN TOTAL (!) in my local store... well, guess which way I went. Now 2GB with the same price as Mushkin's EXTRADUPERFAST 512MB is soo sweet, no swap in XP and stuff... not saying Mushkin is bad, it's just so nice to spend $$$ on the AMOUNT of memory, not the speed. Sometime I'll get 4GB of noname sticks and make myself a hefty RAM disk and outrun those Raptor boasting kids, hehe :))artifex - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
Pirks, spend a little more for name brand, even if not high-performance. That $20 or so you save up front isn't going to look so good if you ever have a memory glitch that causes you to lose data.I buy Mushkin, but only for machines that I'm going to be building at the margins of their rated specs, intend to overclock, etc. I feel like Mushkin sticks might be just a little more solid for that.
I don't overclock all my stuff, though, and for just regular performance that is solid, like in my Mac Mini, I use Crucial. I wouldn't go with a no-name. And I never, ever, would buy loose sticks from a place like Fry's. :)
Pirks - Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - link
That's because you don't know what www.memtest.org is :P
Inkjammer - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
I've not seen enough of a performance boost from the "elite" memory to justify the price. Now, I say this, and I have 2GB of Kingston HyperX memory in my system. I swapped it out for 2GB of regular Kingston Value RAM and the performance difference was minor at best. If I weren't running a benchmark on it via SANDRA I'd never have even noticed.It seems to be geared to overclockers primarily, or people who just wanna pimp their rig. I think you could take the extra $200 for 2GB and invest in a beefier CPU or graphics card and really, REALLY see a performance difference.
WxChaser - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
Mushkin was the first memory company to produce enthusiast memory using the Elpida chips, allowing them to overclock very well at tight timings for DDR2. These modules will provide excellent performance for Intel DDR2 motherboards, and migrate quite well to the AMD socket AM2 when those platforms are released later this year.Please note that Mushkin has revamped their main web presence recently, and markets to 3 main target groups now. These are enhanced performance, high performance, and extreme performance. The XP2 PC2-5300 modules we tested were the extreme performance category - in other words aimed at the overclocking and gaming niche markets primarily.
Inkjammer - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
I'd still love to see a comparison on RAM between standard and enthusiast and stock speeds. I know that the built in spreaders are fantastic for heat dissapation, but how much added performance is gained for the extra money?Granted, I have enthusiast RAM, so... don't think of me as a hypocrit, but I still ponder just how much better this RAM is if you're not overclocking to the MAX.