Value RAM Roundup: Computing On a Budget
by Wesley Fink on April 11, 2005 4:26 PM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Performance Comparisons
Performance of the seven Value memories was compared to all of the memory recently tested on the DFI nF4 AMD Athlon 64 platform. Results are also generally comparable to earlier results on the nForce3 testbed using the AGP version of the same nVidia 6800 video card. The performance differences will be that the nVidia 71.84 driver is a bit faster than the 61.77 used in earlier memory review.While we did not test on an Intel platform, the performance results can also be broadly compared to previous DDR benchmark results on the Intel 875 memory test bed. More results are available in recent DDR memory reviews at:
Patriot DDR400 2-2-2/DDR533 3-4-4: Performance AND Value
OCZ VX Revisited: DDR Updates on DFI nForce4
OCZ VX Memory + DFI nForce4 = DDR533 at 2-2-2
Corsair 4400C25: Taking Samsung TCCD to New Heights
PQI & G. Skill: New Choices in 2-2-2 Memory
Athlon 64 Memory: Rewriting the Rules
OCZ 3700 Gold Rev. 3: DDR500 Value for Athlon 64 & Intel 478
Geil PC3200 Ultra X: High Speed & Record Bandwidth
= F-A-S-T= DDR Memory: 2-2-2 Roars on the Scene
Buffalo FireStix: Red Hot Name for a New High-End Memory
New DDR Highs: Shikatronics, OCZ, and the Fastest Memory Yet
The Return of 2-2-2: Corsair 3200XL & Samsung PC4000
OCZ 3700EB: Making Hay with Athlon 64
OCZ 3500EB: The Importance of Balanced Memory Timings
Mushkin PC3200 2-2-2 Special: Last of a Legend
PMI DDR533: A New Name in High-Performance Memory
Samsung PC3700: DDR466 Memory for the Masses
Kingmax Hardcore Memory: Tiny BGA Reaches For Top Speed
New Memory Highs: Corsair and OCZ Introduce DDR550
OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev. 2: The Universal Soldier
OCZ 4200EL: Tops in Memory Performance
Mushkin PC4000 High Performance: DDR500 PLUS
Corsair TwinX1024-4000 PRO: Improving DDR500 Performance
Mushkin & Adata: 2 for the Fast-Timings Lane
Searching for the Memory Holy Grail – Part 2
Kingston KVR400X64C25/512, Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/1G, Mushkin PC3200 EM, OCZ PC3200 Value Series (VX), OCZ PC3200 Gold (BH5), OCZ PC3200 Premier, and Transcend JM366D643A-50 were compared at 200x12 (2.4Ghz, DDR400), 218x11 (2.4Ghz, DDR438), 240x10 (2.4Ghz, DDR480), and the Highest Memory Performance Settings that we could reach. With a constant CPU speed, memory comparisons (except for top performance) show the true impact of faster speed and slower memory timings on memory performance.
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shoRunner - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
when did value ram cost $200 for a gig...dvinnen - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Anyone else finding these Value VX moduals? The link above timeings are 3-4-4-8, not 2.5-3-3-7.JarredWalton - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Please remember that it is rarely feasible for reviewers/sites to go out and buy all the hardware for a roundup. Wes submitted requests to several manufacturers, and this is what *they* felt like sending for testing. Of particular note is the comments from Corsair - they are not alone in rotating chip types on their value RAM. Maybe that is why several companies (i.e. Mushkin) didn't simply send their cheapest RAM.Looking around at various resellers and the pricing Engine, there are quite a few other RAM manufacturers/models out there worth considering. Corsair, Crucial, PDP, PQI, G.Skill, and several others have some really good RAM at $150 or less. You can even find PC4000 rated RAM for around $160 now.
Trust me, it's not practical to try to do a roundup of ALL value RAM. There are just so many models out there, all with different performance characteristics. If you don't want to overclock (at all), most of the $90 to $120 RAM will work well.
We should also have a "Your Mileage May Vary" clause in the article, as what Wes achieved is by no means a scientific sampling of each product. That would require at least 10 samples of each, and when you take the amount of time required to test OC'ing on *one* DIMM setup, it would take months to complete a scientific sampling of RAM.
reactor - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
quite right tony, was well done and hope to see further editions of the article. paying less and getting more is always good :)bigtoe36 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Typos's..."seem" is seen, "we" is were...se we all make mistakes.bigtoe36 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
VX runs well with 2-3-2 timings with lower voltage. I have seem 233fsb 2-3-2 at 2.8V or so which is a little faster than 2.5-3-3 at the same fsb ;-).Regarding the modules that we not tested, you have to remember there are hundreds of different types of ram, not all can be reviewed in one go, I suspect this review alone took quite some time to complete as the AT LABs are a real busy place...i know Wesley is VERY busy not only reviewing but also pushing manufacturers to get boards overclocking better and pushing the enthusiast movent forward.
If only you guys had any idea of what Wes has done for the enthusiast over the past 2 years, i do and please take it from me the boards you are seeing at the moment are the fruits of that work.
Well done Wesley, nice review as always, even with the odd typo in amoungst the 8K words you wrote ;-)
bobsmith1492 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Well, anyway, what about the decent Mushkin CAS 2.5 for $84? It seems like a much better deal than the one they tested.http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
reactor - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
wouldve like to have seen mushkin blue line and twinmos tmii400, both are supposed to be good comptetitors to the Value VX/BH from OCZ.Cygni - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
They reviewed Value ram from the MAJOR mfts, they didnt review no name or OEM pieces, just brand name retail stuff.bobsmith1492 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Who picked these.... :(What about the V-data 3200 CAS 2.5 ram for $70/gig at Newegg or the Mushkin CAS 2.5 for ~80? The ones in the review seem more expensive for slower ratings than most of the stuff at Newegg.
That said, the $115 VX value sounds pretty sweet.