| Super Talent T1000UX2G5 2GB PC2-8000 DDR2 Memory Kit
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Installation:
The two 1GB sticks of Super Talent memory were installed such that they populated memory slots DIMM0 and DIMM2 on a ECS PN2-SLI2+ test motherboard. Upon starting the system I ensured dual channel mode was working and then proceeded into the BIOS to verify the default timings. The memory timings were reported as 5-7-7-20. Make sure if you purchase your memory you change these timings otherwise you could be missing out on additional system performance. Now, to ensure the Super Talent memory could perform at its advertised specifications, the system memory speed was adjusted to 1000MHz with a DRAM voltage of 2.2V and timings of 5-5-5-15. At these settings MemTest86 showed no memory errors and we proceeded to the overclocking tests. Overclocking tests were performed with the memory speeds set to 900, 1000, 1075, and 1200 MHz respectively.
Overclocking:
The first goal when overclocking was to determine the maximum stable memory speed I could achieve with both the Super Talent and Crucial memory packages with more aggressive timings (4-4-4-12). Both packages were stable at 900MHz (4-4-4-12) so benchmarks for both the Super Talent and Crucial memory modules were taken here. 900MHz also turned out to be the highest speed the Crucial Ballistix could achieve without stability issues, so the remainder of the benchmarks include only the Super Talent memory kit.
Testing continued with the Super Talent memory kit at 4-4-4-12 timings until memory speeds exceeded 1075MHz. At memory speeds above 1075MHz, the system began losing stability so 1075MHz became another benchmarking point. Finally, we pushed for the maximum stable memory speed that the Super Talent memory could achieve with its native 5-5-5-15 timings. With the more relaxed timings the memory achieved a stable speed of 1200MHz before MemTest86 began reporting errors.
Benchmarking:
The Super Talent memory was benchmarked against the 2GB kit of Crucial Ballistix memory described previously. To make things fair, both memory kits were tested with the same system FSB (1525MHz) and then the memory timings and memory speeds were varied for each respective test. As already mentioned, the Super Talent memory is rated at much higher speeds than the Crucial Ballistix, so we would expect overclocking performance to be better with the Super Talent kit.
Summary of Tests:
» Crucial @ 900MHz (4-4-4-12), highest stable clock at (4-4-4-12)
» Super Talent @ 900MHz (4-4-4-12)
» Super Talent @ 1000MHz (5-5-5-15), stock settings
» Super Talent @ 1075MHz (4-4-4-12), highest stable clock at (4-4-4-12)
» Super Talent @ 1200MHz (5-5-5-15), highest stable clock at (5-5-5-15)
The following software was used to benchmark the test system:
» Everest Home Edition (v2.20)
» SiSoft Sandra 2007 Lite XI SP1 (v11.22)
» 3DMark 2006
» PC Wizard 2007
Everest Home Edition is a software suite that includes free system benchmarking tools. The results below give you the read and write speeds (MB/s) of the respective memory manufacturers with the memory speed and timings being the test variables. By visual inspection you will see the Super Talent memory provides the best performance when it runs at the more aggressive 4-4-4-12 timings with a memory speed of 1075MHz. You will also notice that the Crucial Ballistix performs within 1% of the best performing Super Talent settings.
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