=<em>F-A-S-T</em>= DDR Memory: 2-2-2 Roars on the Scene
by Wesley Fink on August 5, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Test Results: Crucial Ballistix PC3200
To be considered stable for test purposes, Quake3 benchmark, UT2003 Demo, Super PI, Aquamark 3, and Comanche 4 had to complete without incident. Any of these, and in particular Super PI, will crash a less-than stable memory configuration. We have included results for RCW-ET using the Radar benchmark.| Crucial PC3200 Ballistix (DDR400) - 2 x 512Mb Double-Bank | ||||||
| Speed | Memory Timings & Voltage | Quake3 fps | Sandra UNBuffered | Sandra Standard Buffered | Super PI 2M places (time in sec) |
Wolfenstein - Radar - Enemy Territory fps |
| 400DDR 800FSB |
2-2-2-5 2.5V |
329.6 | INT 2906 FLT 2919 |
INT 4511 FLT 4511 |
129 | 70.5 |
| 433DDR 866FSB |
2-2-2-5 2.65V |
358.7 | INT 3167 FLT 3193 |
INT 4923 FLT 4917 |
119 | 76.7 |
| 466DDR 933FSB |
2.5-2-2-5 2.65V |
384.3 | INT 3287 FLT 3332 |
INT 5237 FLT 5251 |
111 | 82.4 |
| 500DDR 1000FSB |
2.5-2-2-5 2.65V |
410.2 | INT 3481 FLT 3557 |
INT 5623 FLT 5638 |
104 | 88.4 |
| 514DDR 1028FSB |
2.5-2-2-5 2.85V |
419.3 | INT 3600 FLT 3638 |
INT 5752 FLT 5779 |
100 | 90.7 |
It wasn't even a year ago that we considered 3-4-4 timings to be pretty good at DDR500, so what can we say about Crucial's Ballistix that does DDR500 at 2.5-2-2-5? The only word that comes to mind is "astounding"! Crucial is the only memory in the DDR400 2-2-2 roundup using Micron chips, and the performance across the effective range of DDR400 to DDR514 is incredible. Even the highest speed of 514 is achieved at 2.5-2-2-5 timings. What's more, nothing even came close to the 2-2-2 headroom of the Crucial Ballistix, as 2-2-2 timings were possible all the way to DDR460!
It is very interesting that the Micron chips do not really respond well to higher timings, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Seeing how these Micron chips perform, we understand why OCZ EB, based on the same family Micron chips, performs so well. We have seen reports of some variability in the performance of the Ballistix memory, and overclocking results are never guaranteed. However, our results with another pair of Ballistix DIMMs were very similar.
It looks like Crucial has a winner with their new Ballistix PC3200. What's more, Ballistix 3200 is also one of the more reasonable DDR400 memories in the roundup, which spells value in capital letters.
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Hasse - Friday, November 26, 2004 - link
Hi!I'm rather confused when I check my bios for all the abreviations.. TRC, TRAS.... it would be nice to know what to set them all to, I've got the Asus A8V Deluxe board.. and probably ain't the same bios view or settings that msi or others have. I've tried to overclock but the dang thing just hangs and creates not so funny looking bios boot images... Anyway thanx for a nice review. I've made my choice on memory based on it...
adamofwales - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link
Quite easily, I must say,this is the BEST article about memory I have ever read.
Well done.
googles - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - link
i cant find a crucial ballistix pc3200 @ 2-2-2-5 timings.according to their website,
http://www.crucial.com/ballistix/store/listmodule....
BL6464Z402 DDR PC3200 • 2-3-2-6 • Non-parity • DDR400 • 2.8V • 64Meg x 64
they only have a ddr400 ballistix @ 2-3-2-6, is this the ram that AT evaluated?
somekid617 - Thursday, September 23, 2004 - link
i got the ocz 3200 rev.2 and its great!somekid617 - Thursday, September 23, 2004 - link
mbor - Thursday, August 26, 2004 - link
#323Suns, 2-2-2-5 doesn't mean it takes 5 cycles every 4th fetch. The paramenters are:
CAS Latency-RAS to CAS Delay-RAS Precharge-Cycle Time (Tras).
The names actually vary depending on the source. I quote the names used in CPU-Z, as I think they're well establisheed. You should easily find the description of each of these in online references.
fritz64 - Monday, August 16, 2004 - link
babyelfPlease let us know your Optimum latency, memory speed and Voltage setting. I should receive mine today.
babyelf - Saturday, August 14, 2004 - link
Got my 3200 ballistix.. ran 2.65 at DDR410 at 2-2-2-11 and primed blend for 15 hoursnow running DDR420 at 2-2-2-11 at 2.7V
i'll try to go more later after i burn in at this speed
fritz64 - Friday, August 13, 2004 - link
#37 and #38I just ordered my 512MB x2 Crucial ballistix memory for my A64 3500+. I'm hoping to get 2-2-2-10@2.75V for at least 220MHz on Abit AV8 socket 939. I will let you guys know what I have later once I get my hands on those sticks. This will be an acid test for the information that we receive on Anandtech.
Fleabit - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
Wasn't so happy with my 2 * 512MB Ballistix either. couldn't get them to run dual channel stable at DDR 400 at 2-2-2-8 on an NF7-S v2.0 using the rated voltage.Memtested each of the dimms individually, at 2-2-2-8 @2.8v they max'd at 212 and 205.
At least crucial have a good RMA service :)
Has anyone had good experiences?