FAST 2GB DDR Kits - Part 2

Final Words

Many seem confused as to whether it is best to use the fast 512MB DDR DIMMs or the now readily available 1GB DIMMs in their Athlon 64 system. Until recently, we advised buyers to go for the fast 512MB DIMMs, since those 2-2-2 timings on the low-latency A64 on-CPU memory controller usually provided better performance than the slower timings of the 1GB DIMMs. Even the comparison of 4 fast 2T Command Rate 512MB DIMMs versus 2 slower 1GB DIMMs at 1T usually showed that the fast 512MB timings more than offset the 2T penalty of 4 DIMMs.

In Part 1 of the 2GB Kit roundup, it was clear that those rules had changed. The new fast 1GB DIMMs were performing nearly as well as the fastest 512MB DIMMs, and this also made the 1T Command Rate advantage of 2 DIMMs real with 2x1GB DIMMs instead of 4x512MB DIMMs. In that Part 1, we concluded that we could now recommend 2GB kits to end-users. These six new 2GB kits reinforce that conviction - 2 GB has arrived as a real choice for the top-performing systems. All nine 2GB kits sporting a pair of 1GB DIMMs performed very well and with complete stability in our benchmarks. If your needs are fast performance at DDR400 to DDR480, then any of the eight kits based on Infineon B die, C die or Micron memory chips will do the job very well. You can make the selection based on price. If your needs extend to overclocking at DDR550 or beyond, the kits based on Infineon C die or Samsung UCCC will meet your needs. That includes kits rated at DDR500/533 from Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin, OCZ and Gigaram. In this group, the Corsair UCCC value RAM does not perform quite as well as the Infineon-based modules, but at a much lower price with outstanding overclocking, the Samsung is still a great choice where price matters.

There is no doubt that the Crucial Ballistix 2GB bit is the best performing 2GB kit that we have ever tested. However, there are serious questions right now about whether you will be able to even buy this 2GB kit. Crucial tells us that the item is out of stock and they may not be bringing the kit back in stock as they concentrate on DDR2 for the upcoming AMD AM2 launch. End users are reporting that Crucial is telling them the product is End-of-Life and is no longer available. It's a real shame that we can't direct you today to where to buy this excellent memory, and it is even more puzzling that Crucial/Micron may be discontinuing the best 2GB kit that we have ever tested. DDR memory will be useful in AMD platforms for at least another year and a half, and the 2GB Crucial kit would have been a wonderful choice for those who do not plan to migrate to DDR2 when AM2 is launched. We don't even know for sure, at this point, how DDR2 will actually perform with the new AM2 processors.

Whatever the logic, we cannot in good conscious reward a Crucial product that you can't actually buy today. If it were still readily available, it would easily garner our Gold Editor's Choice award, but with no real assurances of continued supply, we can only suggest that you check with Crucial to see if they decide to continue this outstanding 2GB Ballistix kit.

Reviewing 2GB kits that you can actually buy, we jointly award our Gold Editors Choice to Mushkin 2GB Redline XP4000 and OCZ PC4000 2x1024 EB Platinum. The OCZ earned our Gold Editors Choice Award in Part 1 of the roundup and its performance still holds up very well against the 2GB kits that you can actually buy. It is slightly faster than Mushkin Redline at the same test speeds, but the differences are not significant, and no more than you would expect as normal variation among the same memory chips. Mushkin Redline overclocks a bit further - to DDR586 compared to OCZ DDR550 - so if highest OC frequencies is your goal, the Mushkin may be a better choice.

Our Silver Editors Choice has more to do with value than performance. Corsair's TWINX2048-4000PT is the only memory in this roundup based on Samsung UCCC memory chips. While the Corsair must run at slower memory timings, the real differnce in performance is fairly small. In the important overclocking area, the Corsair 4000PT is an excellent performer, reaching a stable overclock of DDR580. This is as good as any memory in this roundup and better than almost all the other 2GB kits. With the same overclocking abilities as the best Infineon and only a slight performance penalty from slower timings, the 30-40% price reduction will be an acceptable trade-off for many end-users. For the excellent value and superb overclocking offered by the Corsair TWINX2048-4000PT, we are pleased to award the AnandTech Silver Editors Choice.

We should also mention that Samsung UCCC 2GB kits are available from OCZ and some other Enthusiast memory manufacturers. The OCZ parts are PC4000 Gold and PC4000GX XTC, and they are about the same price as the Corsair kit. We have not tested either OCZ UCCC, but with the same memory chips, performance should be similar.

All nine of the 2GB DDR kits performed very well in our tests. You should keep in mind, however, that 1GB DIMMs are much more demanding of a memory controller and the motherboard than 512MB parts. For that reason, we would strongly recommend that those who plan high overclocks with 1GB DIMMs use a CPU with a recent Rev. E or better memory controller. The more recent on-chip controllers handle the demands of 1GB memory modules better than older clawhammer controllers.

Last, we will try to answer the question again about whether two 1GB or four 512MB DIMMs are the better choice for Athlon 64 DDR memory. If you plan to install 4GB of memory or upgrade to 4GB in the near future, then 1GB DIMMs are your only choice on current motherboards. There is also no doubt that fast 1GB DIMMs, like eight of the 9 kits tested here, remove the complaint that 1GB DIMMs are slower and will compromise performance compared to fast 512MB DIMMs. There are still a few 512MB DIMMs that top the performance list, but the eight fastest 2GB kits tested here are extremely close to the very best 512MB memory in performance. Even the value Corsair 4000PT was quite close in performance to the other DIMMs and still overclocked well - so price is also no longer a major issue for 1GB DIMMs.

If we were building an AMD Athlon 64 system today, we would definitely choose a 2GB kit for memory. It finally makes sense to choose a 2GB kit and our Editors Choices in this roundup should help in your buying decision. 2GB also makes sense for the OS future. With Vista coming and 2GB, the new memory recommendation for the new OS, you will be set for Vista.

The only real question is whether you really want to invest in 2GB of DDR with AMD DDR2 just around the corner. We don't think that you can possibly lose choosing one of these excellent 2GB kits for your new system build today, but you will need new DDR2 memory for AM2 when it arrives in a few months. What we don't yet know is whether AM2 or the upcoming Intel processors will provide the kind of compelling performance that will make an upgrade to DDR2 a performance enhancing choice for your new system. We look forward to finding answers to this question in the near future.