Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1189




Corsair had started the ball rolling some time ago with their low-latency series. As our standard for benchmarking, we were always pleased to see Corsair 3200LL crank out 2-2-2-5 or 2-2-2-6 memory timings in our benchmarks. In recent months, with later revisions, things have been changing in the memory market. The newest memory revisions now could do only 2-2-3-6 at SPD, and it appeared that 2-2-2-5 at DDR400 was passing away with the death of Winbond BH5 memory modules.

Mushkin was the first to revitalize fast DDR400 timings with their PC3500 Level II, which again gave us 2-2-2-5 timings at DDR400. In our review of Mushkin's new memory, we found this DDR433 memory was very capable of 2-2-2-5 performance at DDR400, while providing 2-2-3-6 timings at DDR433. Mushkin had stockpiled the discontinued Winbond BH5 chips and promised that they had enough supply to last until at least the end of 2003.



Enter OCZ, who claims that their new OCZ PC3500 Platinum is capable of 2-2-2-5 memory performance at DDR400. While specified as 2-2-3-6 at DDR433, we are told that this new memory also can do 2-2-2-6 timings at DDR433 at a higher voltage of around 2.75V. OCZ tells us that this new memory is also based on Winbond BH5 chips, and it appears Winbond has begun manufacturing these chips again, since there was so much demand for them. This is certainly good news for those who demand the absolute fastest timings at DDR400.

While AnandTech's reviews of recent DDR500 and 533 from Corsair, Mushkin, and OCZ have found the newest memory capable of operating at DDR400 at 2-3-3-5 timings in addition to good performance at DDR500/533, this is still not the same as 2-2-2-5 performance. Many would point out that DDR500 to DDR533 are only really useful for a processor like the Pentium 4 2.4C, which is often capable of reaching FSB speeds of 250 to 300. This is not the processor most people buy, and for the 2.8 to 3.2 Pentium 4, the Athlon64 3200+, and AMD Barton processors, a memory that can do the absolute fastest timings at DDR400 to DDR433 or so is likely to provide the best performance. It is for these computer enthusiasts that OCZ has designed the new PC3500 Platinum.

While Intel legitimized DDR400 with the 875/865 chipsets, DDR400 is now an official JEDEC standard. In fact, the fastest memory that the Intel 875/865, AMD Athlon64, and AMD Athlon/Barton are designed to run is DDR400. Anything faster than DDR400 is overclocking the memory or the system in one form or another. So, for those of you who do not overclock the FSB, or those of you who overclock a mid- to high-end CPU, then the OCZ PC3500 Platinum is designed to provide the fastest memory performance that you can achieve.

OCZ PC3500 Platinum Specifications


 OCZ PC3500 Platinum Memory Specifications
Number of DIMMs & Banks 2 DS
DIMM Size
Total Memory
512 Mb
1 GB
Rated Timings 2-2-3-6 at DDR433
Rated Voltage 2.6V
Maximum Voltage 3.0V


OCZ tests performance of PC3500 on Asus and Abit Intel 865/875 motherboards. While compatibility tests are run on other motherboards, these popular boards are used for Production Line testing.




Performance Test Configuration

The Memory testbed for evaluating the OCZ PC3500 Platinum is the same used in our earlier reviews of DDR500 and other High-Speed Memory.

OCZ 4200EL: Tops in Memory performance
Mushkin PC4000 High Performance: DDR500 PLUS
Corsair TwinX1024-4000 PRO: Improving DDR500 Performance
Mushkin & Adata: 2 for the Fast-Timings Lane
Searching for the Memory Holy Grail — Part 2

All test conditions were as close as possible to those in our earlier memory reviews.


 INTEL 875P Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s): Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz (800MHz FSB)
RAM: 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Platinum (DS)
2 x 512MB OCZ 4200EL(DS)
2 x 512MB Mushkin PC4000 High Performance (DS)
2 x 512MB Corsair TwinX4000 PRO (DS)
2 x 512MB Mushkin Level II PC3500 (DS)
2 x 256Mb Adata DDR450 (SS)
2 x 512MB Adata PC4000 (DS)
2 x 512MB Corsair PC4000 (DS)
2 x 512MB Geil PC4000 (DS)
4 x 256MB Kingston PC4000 (SS)
2 x 256MB Kingston PC4000 (SS)
2 x 512MB OCZ PC4000 (DS)
4 x 256MB OCZ PC3700 GOLD (DS)
Hard Drives 2 Western Digital Raptor Serial ATA 36.7GB 10,000 rpm drives in an Intel ICH5R RAID configuration
PCI/AGP Speed Fixed at 33/66
Bus Master Drivers: 875P Intel INF Update v5.00.1012, SATA RAID drivers installed, but IAA not installed
Video Card(s): ATI 9800 PRO 128MB, 128MB aperture, 1024x768x32
Video Drivers: ATI Catalyst 3.8
Power Supply: Vantec Stealth 470Watt Aluminum
Operating System(s): Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards: Asus P4C800-E (875) with 1011 Release BIOS

OCZ targets their PC3500 Platinum at the Intel 875/865 enthusiast. Since the PC3500 Platinum is not targeted at Athlon, performance on an Athlon nForce2 Ultra 400 was not tested.

Test Settings

The following settings were tested with OCZ PC3500 Platinum:
  1. 800FSB/DDR400 — the highest stock speed supported on 875/865 motherboards.
  2. 866FSB/DDR433 — the specified rating of OCZ PC3500 Platinum.
  3. Highest Stable Overclock — the highest settings that we could achieve with this memory and other memory that we have tested.
These are the same settings used in benchmarking other memory in the above list of memory tests, except for the addition of a 533 value for PC3500.




Test Results

To test overclocked stability, we used the very demanding Gun Metal 2 — Benchmark 2, which pushes systems with its DX9 routines. To be considered stable for test purposes, Gun Metal, our Quake3 benchmark, UT2003 Demo, and Super PI had to complete without incident. Any of these 4, and in particular Super PI and Gun Metal, will crash a less than stable memory configuration. In addition to game benchmarks and Super Pi, Sandra 2004 Unbuffered and Buffered was used to compare memory performance.


OCZ PC3500 Platinum — 2 x 512Mb Double-Bank
Speed Memory Timings
& Voltage
Quake3
fps
UT2003
fps
Sandra UNBuffered Sandra Standard
Buffered
Super PI 2M places
(time in sec)
400DDR
800FSB
2-2-2-5
2.55V
331.3 Fly: 202.49
Bot: 71.27
INT 3124
FLT 3143
INT 4902
FLT 4899
127
433DDR
866FSB
2-2-2-5
2.75V
355.4 Fly: 218.00
Bot: 77.03
INT 3207
FLT 3230
INT 5220
FLT 5210
120
466DDR
933FSB
2-2-3-8
2.85V
375.0 Fly: 229.78
Bot: 82.22
INT 3304
FLT 3321
INT 5618
FLT 5606
112

The OCZ PC3500 Platinum performed better than its rated 2-2-3-6 specification. At DDR400, like Mushkin PC3500 Level II, it allowed the fastest timings we have seen with any high-speed memory. While we could boot at speeds as high as DDR476, DDR466 was the highest stable overclock that we could achieve with the PC3500 Platinum. At that speed, the system was completely stable and there were no problems with any application we tried to run on the computer.




Performance Comparisons

Performance of the OCZ PC3500 Platinum was compared to all of the memory recently tested in:

OCZ 4200EL: Tops in Memory performance
Mushkin PC4000 High Performance: DDR500 PLUS
Corsair TwinX1024-4000 PRO: Improving DDR500 Performance
Mushkin & Adata: 2 for the Fast-Timings Lane
Searching for the Memory Holy Grail — Part 2

Memory performance was compared at DDR400, the rated speed of the memory, and the highest stable memory speed the memory could achieve. While PC3500 Platinum can not run at DDR500 speed, it is the rated speed of many of the tested modules. Therefore, DDR500 is also included to make it easier to compare performance of the memory modules. To be considered stable, the memory must be able to run Gun Metal 2 Benchmark 2, Quake 3, UT2003, and Super PI to 2MM places.

Results are compared for Quake 3, Sandra 2004 UNBuffered Memory Test, and Super PI. SiSoft Sandra reports 2 results for each memory test — an Integer value and a Float value. Results reported in our charts are the result of averaging the INT and FLOAT scores, which are normally close in value. INT and FLOAT scores were added and divided by 2 for our reported score.




DDR400 Test Results






DDR433 Test Results






DDR500 Test Results






Highest Memory Test Results






Final Words

In its performance range of DDR333 to DDR466, OCZ PC3500 Platinum is the best performing memory that we have tested on the Intel 875. The performance is very similar to Mushkin 3500 Level II, with the added benefits that OCZ will do 2-2-2-5 timings at DDR433 at 2.75V, and it also operates with stability to a higher FSB than Mushkin 3500 Level II. When we asked OCZ about these improvements, they indicated that they were using a new PCB, which was designed to achieve higher clock rates with Winbond BH5 chips. Whatever the reason, the performance of the PC3500 Platinum is outstanding in its operating range.

OCZ PC3500 Platinum is the second current memory that we have tested to pass our benchmark tests on the Intel 875 in Dual-Channel mode at 2-2-2 timings, which is even more remarkable considering our tested modules were 512Mb Double-Bank. Corsair 3200LL Rev. 1.1 also completed 2-2-2 tests at DDR400, but that Revision has been replaced with Rev. 1.2, whose best performance at DDR400 is 2-2-3. Mushkin 3500 Level II, which also uses Winbond BH5 chips, also completed DDR400 benchmarks at 2-2-2-5 timings. With the ability to also perform at 2-2-2-6 at DDR433, the OCZ is certainly the fastest module at that speed we have tested. In fact, we were able to overclock to an astounding DD450 at 2-2-2-6 timings, although it required 2.85V for stability of the memory.

Looking at the larger picture of DDR400 performance, we now find OCZ PC3500 Platinum and Mushkin PC3500 Level II neck and neck with the fastest timings at DDR400. Either of these will provide the best possible performance at DDR400. Kingston HyperX 4000, OCZ 3700 Gold, Adata DDR450, and Adata PC4000 are also other good performers in the DDR400 range. So are the newest DDR500/533 modules based on Hynix Rev. B chips from Corsair, Mushkin, and OCZ.

If you do not plan to overclock, there is no doubt that OCZ PC3500 Platinum and Mushkin 3500 Level II offer the best performance at DDR400 on the Intel 875/865 platform. Corsair 3200LL Rev. 1.1 — if you can still find it — is certainly in this same league and won Evan Lieb's DDR400 shootout a few months ago.

If you have a 2.8 to 3.2GHz Pentium 4 CPU and plan to overclock, then you are likely to be limited to an overclock somewhere in the 240 to 245 FSB range. For the new Athlon64 CPU and Athlon XP Barton chips, you will also find that your overclocks will be limited to 233 or lower. For all of these processors, the OCZ PC3500 Platinum is an almost ideal match, providing the fastest memory timings currently available to about DDR466. Mushkin 3500 Level II is also recommended, topping out only a few MHz slower than the OCZ.

For a 2.4C or 2.6C Intel Pentium 4 processor, you may achieve overclocks up to the 290 FSB range, and the most recent winners of our DDR500 benchmarking — OCZ 4200EL, Corsair XMS4000 PRO, or Mushkin 4000 High performance should be your choice for 1:1 synchronous performance. OCZ 4200EL certainly reaches further than any memory we have tested, but for most of the range, Corsair and Mushkin are neck and neck in performance. If you intend to run 5:4 timings with your very high FSB settings on a 2.4 or 2.6, then you should again look to the OCZ PC3500 Platinum or Mushkin 3500 Level II, since they can provide the absolute fastest timings at the 5:4 memory settings you can achieve.

In the end, there is not just one answer to, “What is the best memory for my computer?” It depends on your motherboard, your CPU, the applications that you will run, and how you will run your computer. Our next memory roundup will take a look at performance of Registered ECC modules that are required for the new Athlon64 FX processor and the AMD Opteron.

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