Overclocking and Optimizing:
After some preliminary benchmarks and one session of OCCT were executed at default settings it was time to see how high this kit could overclock. The first step I took was straight to 1202MHz, to see if it was stable at the equivalent of the PC2-9600 speed grade. 1200MHz is the true speed of PC2-9600 memory, but it was as close as I could get with this processor. I had previously used an E6850 processor for testing high performance memory kits, but shifted to the E2180 because I found it was capable of running exactly at PC2-9136 and PC2-9200 speeds. The E6850 could run just fine in those general ranges, but it could not hit those speeds exactly.
After some more testing, I then started working my way up in smaller steps until things started to get unstable at around 1250MHz. Adjusting the timings didn't help, and I did not want to add any more voltage. I backed it off just a bit, and considered 1242MHz the maximum overclock. 100MHz (or 8.8%) isn't bad, especially since it didn't require any more voltage and the timings were still at 5-5-5-15. The screenshot below shows CPU-Z's confirmation of these settings.
Some may be inclined to blame the processor, as this speed means that the stock 200MHz FSB of the E2180 is now overclocked by 55% to reach 310MHz! The E6850 can run over 400MHz FSB, and even with that CPU I could not get this PC2-9136 kit or another PC2-9200 kit to go beyond 1250MHz.
Testing:
The test system listed in the "Configuration" section was used for the execution of all benchmarks, which include tests from these packages:
» Lavalys Everest Ultimate Edition 4.20
» PassMark Performance Test v6.1 Memory
» Call of Juarez DX10 Benchmark
» Track Mania Nations Forever Benchmark
For comparison purposes, the Aeneon PC2-9136 kit was tested head-to-head with the Kingston HyperX 2GB PC2-9200 DDR2 memory kit. While rated for 8MHz more at stock speed, this Kingston kit has the same capacity, the same timings, the same voltage requirements, and has proven that it can overclock just as well. Each kit was configured in three different ways for the execution of all tests.
The six memory configurations include the following:
» Aeneon PC2-9136 DDR2 at 1142MHz, 5-5-5-15, 2.3V
» Kingston PC2-9200 DDR2 at 1150MHz, 5-5-5-15, 2.3V
» Aeneon PC2-9136 DDR2 at 1202MHz, 5-5-5-15, 2.3V
» Kingston PC2-9200 DDR2 at 1202MHz, 5-5-5-15, 2.3V
» Aeneon PC2-9136 DDR2 at 1242MHz, 5-5-5-15, 2.3V
» Kingston PC2-9200 DDR2 at 1242MHz, 5-5-5-15, 2.3V
These configurations represent both kits running at their stock speeds, at a moderate overclock to 1202MHz, and at the maximum overclock of 1242MHz. The stock speed testing has the kits running at slightly different speeds, but once overclocked the playing field is leveled.
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