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Crucial PC2700 DDR333 Memory Review
Crucial PC2700 DDR333 Memory Review - PCSTATS
With the recent JEDEC approval of the DDR333 (PC2700) standard Crucial is one of the first memory companies to release compliant DDR RAM.
 86% Rating:   
Filed under: Memory Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Crucial May 06 2002   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Memory > Crucial PC2700 DDR

Overclocking The Crucial PC2700

Our overclocking adventures didn't start off very well which was a bit of a downer, but then again a challenge is just as fun sometimes. We were originally going to use the Abit KR7A-133RAID to test the Crucial PC2700 but we weren't able to get the RAM to run properly with the board.

At 133 MHz the memory didn't have any problem, but at 166 MHz we were not able to get the RAM to run properly with the most conservative memory timings. This might have been an Abit glitch as we even set the voltage to 2.85V in a fruitless attempt.

Because of the performance issues associated with the VIA KT333CE chipset, we were a little bit hesitant about using the 8K3A+ for these tests, but decided to go a head anyway as this is a pretty popular motherboard at the moment.

The Crucial PC2700 seemed to like the 8K3A+ much more then the ABit, and ran at 166 MHz FSB without any problems. Unfortunately our PC2700 DDR wasn't very overclocker friendly. We hit our first barrier at 170 MHz FSB; over 166MHz, but not by much.

The system would post at this speed but would blue screen when loading up Windows XP. We had to bump the memory voltage up to 2.7V for the system to run stable. With the most aggressive timings, we were able to get the Crucial PC2700 to run at 180 MHz FSB, but any higher and we would BSOD once we hit the Windows desktop.

The 8K3A+ does allow for voltages to go up to 3.2V which is nice, but it didn't help us overclock any higher. Setting the RAM by SPD allowed the Crucial PC2700 to run at 190 MHz FSB which sounds really good, but because of the relaxed memory timings the RAM didn't perform as well.

pcstats test system specs:

computer hardware:

processor: amd athlonxp 2000+
clock speed:

10x166 mhz = 1.66 ghz
9.5x180 mhz = 1.72 ghz

motherboards:

epox 8k3a+

chipset:

via kt333ce

videocard: nvidia geforce 4 ti4600
sound card: n/a
network card:

n/a

memory:

256mb crucial pc2700 ddr ram

hard drive: 40gb 7200rpm maxtor d740x ultra/133
cdrom: panasonic 48x cd-rom cr-594-b
floppy:

panasonic 1.44mb floppy drive

heatsink: Thermalright SK-6 w/60mm Delta
PowerSupply: Antec 400W PSU
Software Setup: WindowsXP
VIA 4in1 4.38V
DetonatorXP 27.70
Benchmarks:

SiSoft Sandra 2002 Pro
PCMark2002
3DMark2001 SE
Quake III Arena
Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Sisoft Sandra 2002 Pro Source: Sandra

Sandra is designed to test the theoretical power of a complete system and individual components. The numbers taken though are again, purely theoretical and may not represent real world performance. Higher numbers represent better performance.

SiSoft Sandra 2001 Benchmark Results

Memory Benchmark (FSB/Memory)

1. Integer ALU - 256MB Crucial PC2700 DDR (166/333 MHz) 2546 MB/s
2. Integer ALU - 256MB Crucial PC2700 DDR (180/360 MHz) 2621 MB/s
3. Float FPU - 256MB Crucial PC2700 DDR (166/333 MHz) 2361 MB/s
4. Float FPU - 256MB Crucial PC2700 DDR (180/360 MHz) 2604 MB/s

The Crucial PC2700 DDR performs quite well in Sandra - the bandwidth is on par with KT333CE based motherboards. We decided to use an actual 166 MHz FSB instead of a 133 MHz with the RAM running +33 MHz since the bandwidth there is only a lousy 2102 MB/s ALU and 2047 MB/s FPU.

PCMark 2002 Source: MadOnion

PCMark is a new benchmark from our pals at MadOnion which a whole system benchmark. It can be used on desktop PC's, Laptops and even Workstations and tests everyday computing from home to office usage. PCMark specifically stresses the CPU, memory subsystem, graphics subsystem, hard drives, WindowsXP GUI (if WinXP is used), video performance and even laptop batteries. This benchmark was released March 12, 2002 and can be downloaded from Madonion if you would like to give it a test run on your computer for comparisons sake...

PCMark2002 Benchmark Results

Memory (FSB/Memory)

1.

256MB Crucial PC2700 DDR (166/333 MHz)

3651
2.

256MB Crucial PC2700 DDR (180/360 MHz)

3942

PCMark likes those high FSB's and the Crucial PC2700 does very well also. Overclocking brings a nice speed increase.

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Contents of Article: Crucial PC2700 DDR
 Pg 1.  Crucial PC2700 DDR333 Memory Review
 Pg 2.  — Overclocking The Crucial PC2700
 Pg 3.  3DMark benchmarks, QIII, RTCW & Conclusions

 
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