Overclocking:
Before we get to benchmarking, let's see how well the OCZ Special Ops Edition Urban Elite DDR2-800 can be overclocked. I would not consider myself an expert overclocker, and might expect more experienced overclockers to get better results that I did, but things went pretty well, anyway.
A set of G.Skill PC2-6400 DDR2 2GB (2x1024) had been used in the test system previously, and provided a modest overclock at the stock timings to 230MHz (920 MHz DDR2). Lowering the CPU multiplier, to 10, I was only able to get it to go to 240MHz (960 MHz DDR2).
With the OCZ Special Ops Urban Edition DDR2-800 kit I was able to go slightly past the G.Skill overclock to 235MHz (940 MHz DDR2), with better stock timings. Matching the timings, I was able to surpass the G.Skill RAM, taking the kit to 250MHz (1000 MHz DDR2)!
Taking it one step further, I lowered the HTT to 4, and the CPU multiplier to 10, I was able to take it a little further to 255MHz FSB. Everest was reporting the memory operating at 1020MHz DDR2. 220MHz faster than the rated speeds isn't a bad bump, and it equates to a 27.5% increase!
Benchmarks
For the benchmarking portion, I will be evaluating the OCZ Special Ops Edition Urban Elite PC2-6400 DDR2 against the G.Skill PC2-6400 DDR2 at two speeds; 200MHz (4-4-3-15), and 230MHz (4-4-3-15).
The benchmarks to be run will include:
» SiSoft Sandra 2005 Memory Benchmark
»
Everest Ultimate Edition 2006 Memory Benchmark
» 3DMark2006
» Real World Gaming:
» Quake 4
» F.E.A.R. Extraction Point (demo)
» Battlefield 2
SiSoft Sandra Memory Benchmark:
SiSoft Sandra 2005's suite of benchmarks includes one that offers a pair of results related to memory performance. The values are provided in units of MB/s, and higher values are better. As you can see from the data below, Sandra is reporting almost a 4.5% performance increase over the G.Skill RAM when overclocking, and less than 0.5% at their rated speeds. However, comparing the base rated speed benchmark and the overclock benchmark, I received a 17.5% performance increase.
