Value RAM Roundup: Computing On a Budget
by Wesley Fink on April 11, 2005 4:26 PM EST- Posted in
- Memory
The Memories
The first task in our look at Value RAM was to define Value RAM. With top memories selling for $250 to $400 (or even higher) for a 1GB kit, we decided that a price limit of $200 for a 1GB kit (2x512MB DIMMs) of DDR memory would be our cut-off. Admittedly, this excludes some good value Samsung TCCD kits from companies like PQI and Patriot, but these products are really just good buys and marketed by the companies as Performance memory.We requested Value RAM for our review from Corsair, Kingston, Mushkin, OCZ and Transcend as a representative cross-section of the memory industry. We asked these manufacturers to supply a 1GB kit (2x512MB) of a Value RAM product or products that sold on the web for less than $200. We asked them to supply whatever RAM they wished that met these criteria, which we would be comparing in performance to other Value RAM products in a memory roundup.
All the manufacturers supplied one or more samples for testing except Corsair. Corsair emailed us, stating that "Our policy is not to send Value Select parts for review for a variety of reasons. After a quick discussion here we decided to stick with that policy and sit this one out." When we asked for clarification, Corsair expressed concern that we would be testing performance and overclocking of their Value products when memory chips change frequently on these products. The concern is that the overclocking performance we would report in a roundup today might not be what a customer would get tomorrow because chips change frequently in value products. Corsair recommended that customers looking for overclocking and enthusiast level performance should purchase Corsair products that are geared to performance and overclocking, where results are consistent.
The Value RAM roundup resulted with seven memory pairs from four manufacturers.
| Manufacturer | Description (Memory Chips) |
Memory Speed | Rated Timings | Web Price (1GB) |
| Kingston | KVR400X64C25/512 (Kingston) |
400 DDR | 2.5-3-3 | $142 |
| Kingston | KVR400X64C3AK2/1G (Elpida) |
400 DDR | 3-3-3 | $100 ($91 on sale) |
| Mushkin | EM Series PC3200 (Unknown) |
400 DDR | 3-3-3 | $147 |
| OCZ | PC3200 Premier P/N OCZ4001024PDC-K (PSC) |
400 DDR | 2.5-3-3-7 | $121 |
| OCZ | PC3200 Value Series P/N OCZ4001024WV3DC-K (Winbond - Value VX) |
400 DDR | 2.5-3-3-7 | $115 |
| OCZ | PC3200 Gold P/N OCZ4001024ELDCGE-K (Winbond BH5) |
400 DDR | 2-2-2-5 | $195 |
| Transcend | JM366D643A-50 (JetRam) |
400 DDR | 2.5-3-3 | $100 |
The seven memories represent quite a range of choices in memory under $200 for a Gigabyte. First, we were pleasantly surprised that all of the memories except one now actually cost below $150 for a Gigabyte. That one memory, OCZ PC3200 Gold, will still interest many Value RAM buyers because it represents the revival of Winbond BH5 chips, which were discontinued from the market over 6 months ago. We are told that Winbond is manufacturing BH5 again from old dies, and we will be testing this Value RAM at the higher voltages possible on the DFI nForce4 motherboard.
The other big surprise is also from OCZ. We learned (when OCZ introduced their VX memory at DDR500 2-2-2 speed) that there would also be a Value Series version of the VX. What we did not expect was that the new "Value VX" would cost just $115 for a Gigabyte of memory. These are the same chips that were top-performers in a recent memory review. The Value Series uses unbinned chips, so performance is not guaranteed, but we were still anxious to see if this or the new Value BH5 might be the proverbial "silk purse from a sow's ear" for the cheap computer enthusiast. We all like to get something for nothing - or, at least, for very little money.
As you will see from the results, there were quite a few surprises in Value RAM performance. This includes a few very cheap but solid performers that will satisfy many users, and a couple of memories that are as mundane as we expect of Value RAM. For those of you looking for dynamite performance at cheap prices, we also found that silk purse amongst the Value RAM candidates.
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ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
#39,"2) RAM multipliers are usually limited. If you have a standard set of 400, 320, and 266 speeds, you could only achieve DDR400 speed at a CPU frequency of 250. Anything lower than that would be running the RAM at less than 400. Most A64 CPUs can't do 250 on air at stock multipliers (the low end ones can) so they will be running less than optimum ram speed. That's where you could lower CPU multipliers or use a board like the DFI with lots of intermediate RAM ratios. "
I'm not sure I'm following.
With a 9x CPU multiplier, DDR266 memory divider and 312MHz reference clock the memory would be running at DDR400.
With a DDR200 option you could go up to 400MHz on the reference clock. That means that no DDR400 memory will limit the overclock of a CPU with a 9x multiplier.
"1) There is an Asynchronous Latency penalty, which can be tweaked somewhat on boards with better BIOS options like the DFI. It is not, hoever, the kind of asynchronous penalty you see on a FSB board like Intel. "
In my own tests there's no real-world penalty at all. I compared an Athlon 64 running at:
REFCLOCK: 200MHz
Memory Divider: DDR400
CPU multiplier: 9x
LDT: 5x
with:
REFCLOCK: 300MHz
Memory Divider: DDR266 (DDR400 effective)
CPU multiplier: 6x
LDT: 3x
The results where near identical.
"In other words, the easiest way to consistently improve memory performance is 1:1 memory speed."
There's no memory fast enough to run at 1:1 with an Athlon 64. ;)
An Athlon 64 at 9*200 is on a 1800/9 ratio with DDR400 memory.
I'm sorry but I stand by what I said before, there's no reason to invest in memory if you want to overclock your Athlon 64, only if you want to overclock the memory as well.
Kind of on the subject, I hope the round up of AMD PCI-E boards (there is one coming right?) tests the best reference clock the motherboards can achieve without memory as a limiting factor, unlike the reviews before.
PrinceGaz - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
Excellent review, both for the modules it covered and what it didn't.One small point- there is no such thing as 1:1 memory timings with A64 processors. The reduced latency and higher performance that a 1:1 ration gave when the processor to chipset FSB was running synchronously with the chipset memory-controller, is irrelevant with the Athlon 64 as there is no intermediate bus operating at a differnt speed to the memory controller to cause overheads. Selecting a lower memory speed just changes the CPU:Memory ratio in the processor.
The memory on an Athlon 64 system works just as efficiently (though ay a lower bandwidth of course) if set to DDR333 as it does at DDR400, which means there is no real penalty when overclocking in choosing a lower memory speed to compensate for the increasing bus speed.
Olaf van der Spek - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
http://anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2392&am...> Transcend is another memory that costs just $100 for a Gigabyte and yet manages to nearly reach DDR550 in overclocking.
550?
The table claims 510 (2 x 223), but 2 x 223 = 446.
Olaf van der Spek - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
Is Lavalys sponsoring this article? Why is that paragraph repeated on every page?JustAnAverageGuy - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
I would have liked to see Mushkin Blue($147 per GB)
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?desc...
and Corsair VS 2.5
($174 per gb)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
I won't whine about the voltage, that's been done before :)
Olaf van der Spek - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
-LX - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
Why isn't the OCZ4001024WV3DC-K on the OCZ site???CobraT1 - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
If you are interested in the OCZ Value VX, note the differences in the two part numbers, one with a "W" and one without.Value VX = OCZ4001024WV3DC-K
2.5-3-3-7 (picture) Supports EVP (Extended Voltage Protection)
Value = OCZ4001024V3DC-K
3-4-4-8 Does not Support EVP
See this link for both.
http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProductResult.asp?...
Hope this clears up the confusion.
segagenesis - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
Wesley - Fair enough. But when that ATACOM link posted in #44 shows 3-4-4 even on the label in the picture its hard to tell who to believe (and its hard to read the part # on it). If its all the same chip then fine... but why label it differently then? Buyer beware?Maybe I am off base...
Turin39789 - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
I get real tired pushing ferrari's out of my driveway. There isnt any racing alcohol available to me, sometimes I have my neghbor tow me to work in his chevrolet cobalt