Memory Test Methodology
PCstats tests DDR memory on two major CPU platforms - the AMD Athlon64 and the Intel Pentium 4 - because RAM behaves differently with each processor architecture. For instance, Intel users tend to run their memory at high speeds with high latency settings, and in general that works quite well for Intel-based computers. It would be detrimental to system performance if you were to run the same DDR memory settings on an AMD Athlon64 system, since latency plays a much larger role in system performance. Because much of our audience is made up of enthusiasts, PCstats also runs overclocking tests so you can get an idea on how far the memory will go.

On both Intel and AMD test PCs, we're only interested in seeing how high we can go with the memory running 1:1, as running with other dividers puts the overclocking bottleneck elsewhere, and not with the system memory. On the Pentium 4 test system we sometimes use higher latencies in our tests, as latencies are not as important. With the AMD Athlon64 test system, the DDR RAM latency must run at 2-2-2-5, or the memory's tightest possible timings, as quick access is more important to the CPU design.

PCStats Test System #1 Specs:

processor: amd athlon64 3200+ clock speed: 10 x 200 mhz = 2 ghz 9 x 225 mhz = 2.03 ghz motherboards: asus k8v-dlx videocard: ati radeon 9800xt memory: 2x 512mb corsair twinx 4000* 2x 512mb ocz pc3200 plat ltd ed. 2x 512mb corsair twinx 3200 xl hard drive: 40gb western digital special ed cdrom: nec 52x cd-rom powersupply: vantec 400b ion software setup windowsxp build 2600 via 4in1 4.51 catalyst 3.9 workstation benchmarks sisoft sandra 2003 pcmark2002 pcmark04 3dmark2001se ut2003

* - memory was running 3-4-4-8

PCStats Test System #2 Specs:

processor: intel pentium 4 2.4c clock speed: 12 x 200 mhz = 2.4 ghz 12 x 260 mhz = 3.12 ghz motherboards: abit ic7-max3 videocard: ati radeon 9800xt memory: 2x 512mb corsair twinx 4000* 2x 512mb ocz pc3200 plat ltd ed. 2x 512mb corsair twinx 3200xl ** hard drive: 40gb western digital special ed cdrom: nec 52x cd-rom powersupply: vantec 400b ion software setup windowsxp build 2600 via 4in1 4.51 catalyst 3.9 workstation benchmarks sisoft sandra 2003 pcmark2002 pcmark04 3dmark2001se ut2003

* - memory was running 3-4-4-8
** - memory was running 2.5-3-3-7 when overclocked

Winstone 2002	Source: Zdnet

Business Winstone 2002 is a system-level, application-based benchmark that measures a PC's overall performance when running today's top-selling Windows-based 32-bit applications on Windows 98, Windows 2000 (SP6 or later), Windows Me, or Windows XP. Business Winstone doesn't mimic what these packages do; it runs real applications through a series of scripted activities and uses the time a PC takes to complete those activities to produce its performance scores.

Business Winstone 2002 Benchmark Results
Memory	Points	Ranking
AMD Athlon64 System Results
2x 512MB Corsair TwinX4400PT (200/400)	39.6
2x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Plat LTD Ed (200/400)	41.6
2x 512MB Corsair TwinX3200XL (200/400)	41.6
2x 512MB Corsair TwinX3200XL (225/450)	42.3
Intel Pentium 4 System Results
2x 512MB Corsair TwinX4400PT (200/400)	33.1
2x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Plat LTD Ed (200/400)	34.2
2x 512MB Corsair TwinX3200XL (200/400)	34.4
2x 512MB Corsair TwinX3200XL (260/520)	37.5

Because the CPU speed is approximately the same it should be no surprise that the Athlon64 system does not gain much from overclocking with the Corsair TwinX 1024-3200XL Pro DDR. The Pentium 4 on the other hand gets a small performance boost.

SiSoft Sandra 2004	Source: Sandra