Searching for the Memory Holy Grail: Part 1
by Wesley Fink on July 27, 2003 11:13 PM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Performance Test Configuration
Performance Test Configuration | |
Processor(s): | Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz (800MHz FSB) Intel Pentium 4 2.6GHz (800MHz FSB) |
RAM: | 4 x 256MB OCZ3700 GOLD (DS) 2 x 512MB Winbond BH5 PC3500 (DS) 2 x 256MB Crucial DDR400 (Samsung chips) (SS) 4 x 256MB OCZ4000 Beta (SS) |
Bus Master Drivers: | 875P: Intel INF Update v5.00.1012, RAID IAA drivers not installed on 875P board for consistency in test results |
Video Card(s): | ATI 9800 PRO 128MB ATI 9700 PRO 128MB |
Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 3.5 |
Operation System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
Motherboards: | DFI 875PRO LAN Party (875P) with 6/25/03 release BIOS Asus P4P800 Deluxe (865PE) with 1.009.004 BIOS |
Two motherboards tested at Anandtech were used in tests to determine the best memory configuration for 875/865 chipsets. All testing at DDR400 and DDR466 were with a 3.0Ghz 800FSB CPU on the DFI 875PRO LanParty. The DFI benchmarks used either one, two, or four OCZ3700 GOLD 256MB DS modules, or 2 OCZ3700 GOLD DS and 2 Crucial 400 SS 256Mb/Winbond BH5 DS 512MB for mixed mode testing. All Benchmarks at DDR500 were run with a 2.6GHz 800FSB CPU on the Asus P4P800 Deluxe, which we reviewed in our 865PE/875P Motherboard Roundup June 2003. We used one, two, or four OCZ4000 GOLD beta modules, which are single-sided.
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Anonymous User - Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - link
Wesley Fink - Monday, July 28, 2003 - link
Yes, you read it correctly. the mixed dimms can vary from very large drops - 20 to 27% or so - to very little if any drop for closely matched pairs. Performance seems to fare best when mixed pairs are the same capacities and the same "bank" configuration.ViRGE - Monday, July 28, 2003 - link
Very good article, Wesley, but I'm a bit confused on your mixed vs. matched DIMM comparison. On the 1st configuration, 2x256DS + 2x512DS, the timings look to be the same as in the 1st table on page 4, the DDR 400 numbers. Am I reading this correctly? It seems odd(although believable) that memory bandwidth dropped 25%, even though it stayed as 4 DS DIMMs at the same timings.PrometheusN - Monday, July 28, 2003 - link
Thanks to a reader for pointing out one correction to this article. The Intel White Paper from the 865 chart reverses 1 and 2 memory positions compared to the 875 white paper. While I did not test 865 performance in the review, I did make reference to the White Paper Chart.We can also wonder, with Intel not sanctioning PAT on the 865, exactly how the 865 boards WITH PAT will behave, and if memory on an 865 with PAT changes back to the same as 875.
Anonymous User - Monday, July 28, 2003 - link
You did not close your table on page eight.3 4 DS/td> Dual Channel
Add a < to the "/td>" ;)
Otherwise... Great article, very informing, thanks for taking the time to write this up.
PrometheusN - Monday, July 28, 2003 - link
Single-Sided or Double-Sided IS a functional description - but it normally is also a visual description. BEWARE dimms that skip every other chips on both sides. These have 4 chips on each side, but are functionally Single-Sided.PrometheusN - Monday, July 28, 2003 - link
According to CPU-Z 1.18C, 4 Sticks of ram - single or double - do NOT disable "PAT" on the DFI 875PRO or the Asus P4C800-E. It depends on how the motherboard BIOS handles the 4 Dimms.Wesley Fink
Shalmanese - Monday, July 28, 2003 - link
Nice article but what are the real world consequences of these numbers? When DDR was 1st introduced, we only saw a ~10% peroformance increase from a 100% increase in memory bandwidth so I am thinking that the difference between 2 and 4 banks would be trivial.ghg - Monday, July 28, 2003 - link
Hi PromNice review, as we expected from you 8-).
Using 4 sticks of doublesided OCZ 3700 Gold disables PAT according to CPU-Z 1.18c.
Same behavior when taking 4 sticks of singlesided OCZ 4000 ?
Ciao
Gary
ghg - Monday, July 28, 2003 - link