pcstats test system specs: processor: amd athlon64 4000+ clock speed: 12 x 200 mhz = 2.4 ghz 9.5 x 250 mhz = 2.37 ghz motherboards: dfi lanparty nf4 sli-dr (nf4-sli) videocard: msi nx7800gtx-v2d256e memory: 2x 512mb patriot pdc1g5600elk 2x 512mb corsair twinx1024-3200xl pro 2x 512mb centon gemini pc3200 2x 512mb ocz pc3500 gold dc gx hard drive: 74gb western digital raptor cdrom: gigabyte go-w0808a dvd burner powersupply: pc power & cooling turbocool 510 sli heatsink: athlon64 4000+ reference heatsink software setup windowsxp forceware nf4 6.53 forceware 77.77 benchmarks business winstone 2004 sisoft sandra 2005 pcmark04 pcmark05 3dmark2001se 3dmark05 ut2003 ut2004 doom 3

pcstats test methodology

pcstats tests ddr memory on amd athlon64 systems only because intel has effectively made the transition to ddr2. enthusiasts usually keep to the bleeding edge, so fast ddr memory is useless for the intel overclocker looking for more juice.

on amd test systems 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, not with the system memory. We usually run DDR RAM latency at 2-2-2-5, or the memory's tightest possible timings, as quick access is important to the CPU design. However in cases where memory is built to run at high speeds with lax memory timings, we will run the benchmark tests at the manufacturer specified timings. Not doing so would put high speed DIMMs at a disadvantage since the memory may not be designed to run at tighter memory timings.

As we move into the benchmarks a quick explanation is in order as to why the results will show minor performance gains due to the faster memory speeds we're testing. With previous platforms, increasing memory speed often meant also increasing the bus speed between the processor and memory. Since the memory controller is integrated into the Athlon64 processor, overclocking memory does not increase the speed of data moving to and from the processor any further, since there is no bus. To really get the most from your memory overclocking, you must also increase the CPU speed so it can handle the increased memory bandwidth. The reason why we do not do this during testing is because CPU speed will affect the benchmarks and that would not allow the results to be directly comparable to previous tests. By keeping the processor at approximately the same speed for all tests, we are seeing the real world benefit from the increased memory frequency alone.