Buffalo FireStix: Red Hot Name for a New High-End Memory
by Wesley Fink on July 22, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Test Results: Buffalo FireStix PC4000
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 also included test results for Return to Castle Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory to continue to build a database for future memory testing using this benchmark.Buffalo FireStix PC4000 - 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 |
2-3-3-5 2.5V |
326.4 | INT 2766 FLT 2744 |
INT 4461 FLT 4446 |
132 | 69.4 |
500DDR 1000FSB |
2.5-3-4-6 2.65V |
395.2 | INT 3203 FLT 3252 |
INT 5430 FLT 5503 |
107 | 85.8 |
528DDR 1056FSB |
3-4-4-7 2.75V |
418.0 | INT 3434 FLT 3435 |
INT 5812 FLT 5835 |
101 | 90.0 |
Buffalo FireStix performed much better at DDR500 than their rated timings of 3-4-4, running with complete stability at 2.5-3-4-6 memory timings. FireStix DDR500 were also able to perform at excellent 2-3-3 timings at DDR400, which is nearly as fast as we have seen with the best DDR400 rated memory. As we have seen with other 2nd and 3rd generation DDR500, you no longer have to give up standard speed performance when you use better high-speed memory.
9 Comments
View All Comments
rahzim - Sunday, July 25, 2004 - link
Hi,Just had a few questions about overclocked/high performance ddr ram in general. Im about to build a computer waiting for the msi neo2 mb and want fast memory for it. Only thing is i read that most of the memory im looking at namely DDR550 is overclocked and wont actually run at that speed unless you overclock the fsb.
Is it just a matter of setting the timings and voltages in the mb bios to get the ram to perform at ddr550 speeds, or do i also need to adjust the fsb? Will I have any trouble getting speeds around pc4400 with a nforce3 250 chipset / athlon fx 53?
IkeEisenhower - Saturday, July 24, 2004 - link
I dunno about awful names, there seems to be a sub-trend of names that seem to denote product suitability for the "just okay" mediocre PC you get tricked into building for your cousin or some distant friend... e.g.:Foxconn Athlon motherboards,
Albatron's "Proll" (Prole?) mobos,
Powmax PSUs,
XFX video cards,
Firestix memory,
so on and so forth, they just SOUND right...
BlackMamba - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
I love these awful names for memory products. :)Bozo Galora - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Off topic, but the blue/grey before white page load is still happening (Firefox .0.9.2)Man, these timely reviews are coming like a
waterfall.(Wesly is the best)
Are we spiffing up the site for a possible sale??
johnsonx - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Isn't Jolly Rancher going to be upset about Buffalo using their name? I don't see them much anymore, but I'm pretty sure Firestix is what Jolly Rancher called their firey-hot cinnamon candy sticks. I mostly see the small bite-size ones now, but the sticks still exist as far as I know.Zebo - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Excellent article thanks:)Little secret for my anandtech friends..Go the Circut City and they have the same ram labled as kingston value ram PC3200 for $68-$99 for 512 depending on the day..
You mustlook through the boxes which are clear plastic until you find one with "Hynix BT-D43" chips labeled as such... Just awesome and found on expensive PC4200 modules...as you see.
Calin - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
I love the colored bar for the memory in discussion. It makes reading the article much more enjoyableAnand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Fixed :)TrogdorJW - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Hey, the new graphs are great. One small problem, though. All the graph images are 450x450, but the HTML is specifying a 450x337 size, so they're getting a little squished vertically.