Value RAM Roundup: Computing On a Budget
by Wesley Fink on April 11, 2005 4:26 PM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Mushkin EM Series PC3200
Mushkin is admired by many computer enthusiasts for the quality of their products and the customer service that they provide. In the past, the only way to buy Mushkin memory was direct at www.mushkin.com. Recently, however, Mushkin has also been available through web retailers like Monarch, NewEgg, TigerDirect, and AxionTech. In Canada, Mushkin is available through NCIX.If you do order direct from Mushkin, you will get their famous "pillow pack" that cradles their memory in an air bubble. The point is that Mushkin makes solid products, stands behind their products, and treats customers well.
Mushkin EM is their Value line product, and like other Mushkin memory, it comes in a sealed anti-static bag instead of the fancier packaging that many others use. All Mushkin memory, even this Value product, comes with heatspreaders.
Specifications
The Mushkin EM is specified at the unimpressive specs of 3-3-3-8, but keep in mind that Value RAM is normally about price and not performance.| Mushkin EM Series PC3200 (DDR400) Memory Specifications | |
| Number of DIMMs & Banks | 2 DS |
| DIMM Size Total Memory |
512 MB 1GB |
| Rated Timings | 3-3-3-8 at DDR400 |
| SPD (Auto) Timings | 3-3-3-8 |
| Rated Voltage | 2.6V |
The EM memory performed fine at stock DDR400, but it is another Value RAM with no overhead.
Test Results
| Mushkin EM Series PC3200 (DDR400) - 2 x 512Mb Double-Bank | |||||||
| CPU Ratio at 2.4GHz | Memory Speed |
Memory Timings & Voltage |
Quake3 fps |
Sandra UNBuffered | Sandra Standard Buffered |
Super PI 2M places (time in sec) |
Wolfenstein - Radar - Enemy Territory fps |
| 12x200 | 400 DDR | 3-3-3-6 2.6V 1T |
524.0 | INT 2600 FLT 2752 |
INT 6049 FLT 6005 |
83 | 111.1 |
| 12x205 (2.46GHz) |
Highest CPU/Mem Performance | 3-3-3-6 2.9V 1T |
525.9 | INT 2616 FLT 2749 |
INT 6153 FLT 6130 |
81 | 112.4 |
All the memory manufacturers generally have access to the same memory chips, and we can only surmise that Mushkin chose the chips in our EM sample for price. The manufacturer chose which Value RAM to send us for testing, and we can only wonder why Mushkin chose to send us EM for this roundup. We have tested other Mushkin Value RAM over the years, and we have generally been pleased with the performance and head room of Mushkin value products. Our advice would be to choose this Mushkin EM if you will only run at stock speeds. It could be that the memory is just a bad match to the AMD memory controller or the DFI, but further testing would be required to see if the EM performs better on other platforms.
Aida 32 is now available as Everest Home Edition, a free download from www.lavalys.com. We have found this benchmark to be very useful in examining read/write performance and memory latency.
| Mushkin EM Series PC3200 (DDR400) 2x512Mb Double-Bank Everest 1.51 |
|||||
| CPU Ratio at 2.4GHz | Memory Speed | Memory Timings & Voltage |
Everest READ MB/s |
Everest WRITE MB/s |
Everest Latency ns |
| 12x200 | 400 DDR | 3-3-3-6 2.6V 1T |
5710 | 1873 | 52.8 |
| 12x205 (2.46GHz) |
Highest CPU/Mem Performance | 3-3-3-6 2.9V 1T |
5790 | 1940 | 51.0 |
There's little to analyze with such a small performance range. We would suggest that you choose another Mushkin value RAM if you want to shop for a Mushkin product at low cost. The Mushkin website shows a 1GB CL2 DDR400 kit at $155 compared to $147 for the EM.
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wfn - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
err, what dvinnen said, i dont see atacom selling the value vx. they dont mention the actual part # anywhere on that page and the pics show 3-4-4-8 modules.wfn - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Wesley Fink - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
#28 - Corsair delined our request for Value RAM samples. We talk about this on page 2.'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." '
Wesley Fink - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Answering several emails: Value BH5 (OCZ PC3200 Gold) is available at Atacom for $194.95.http://www.atacom.com/program/print_html_new.cgi?c...
dannybin1742 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
how come no corsair valueram was done? thats stuff is really cheap too, i use the pc3200 with my a64, runs like a champ and i got it for $92 from new egg (2 512 sticks)Avalon - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Value VX for the win, if you have the voltage and like overclocking...ViRGE - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
It was a good article, but can I put in a request? 1GB modules are starting to get popular, even if they're not very OC-friendly at this point, enough so that it makes more sense at this point to pick up a pair of 1GB DIMMs than to fill a board with 512MB DIMMs. As such, can we get a roundup of the different major 1GB modules some time in the future?bobsmith1492 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Well, it's not that big a deal getting the voltages on the DFI board; they're not that expensive.Anyway, is there any chance of a follow-up article, possibly with more ram types and maybe a few retail models?
xsilver - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Wesley, This "review" was pretty bad due to a number of reasons1) you let the memory makers choose what ram you were going to review
2) You tested memory at voltages that are way above most motherboard's capabilities 3.4 volts? only the DFI can do that .... This is a VALUE roundup.... WTF are you doing with a DFI and 6800 Ultra's?
after what Anand said about the intergrity of anandtech I feel sorry for anand if he is reading this.....
how about you actually get some of your own memory from corsair and stop letting them push you around? what about geil? kingmax? and others?
and test memory at a SANE level of 2.7-2.8v
Teetu - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
I wish they would have done benchmarks with more modern games. I don't think quake 3 is the most practical bench anymore...At DDR400, you aren't going to see much difference between value and performance. I think if they did use doom 3, hl2, etc as benchmarks a lot of people would just get value ram (single digit fps increase with performance ram).