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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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.