It's great to see how individual memory stacks up against the competition under stock configurations, but we're also going to show how it compares when overclocked. With performance in mind, we're going to compare the maximum overclocked results of the various DDR2 DIMMs we've tested in the past which are listed below. Remember, just because memory is clocked fast doesn't mean it's the best thing for a computer. Timings are also important, and getting the right ratio of both is the real key to performance-based overclocking!

Maximum Overclocked Speeds and Timings - PCstats Results
Intel System Results	Timings	Max Speed	Ranking
Corsair Twin2X1024-8000UL	5-4-4-9	957 MHz
Crucial Ballistix PC2-5400	5-5-5-10	860 MHz
PDP Systems Patriot PC-4200 DDR2 XBL	5-4-4-9	765 MHz
PQI Turbo PQI25400-1GDB	4-4-4-12	730 MHz
Corsair Twin2X1024-4300C3	4-4-4-12	700 MHz
Crucial Ballistix PC2-4200	4-4-4-10	660 MHz
Mushkin PC2-4200	4-4-4-12	625 MHz

The Corsair Twin2X1024-8000UL is no doubt the fastest DDR2 memory we have ever tested! Unfortunately we were not able to quite reach the 1000 MHz rating, but I think that is due to the test system and not the memory.

Speedy! PC2-8000 DDR-2

The introduction of dual core processors is exactly what memory manufacturers needed to put DDR2 memory in good light. Before that, DDR2 memory was having a very difficult time being accepted by the market since it did not offer any real performance gain over the previous memory architecture.

Now with two cores under the hood, bandwidth is again very important and only DDR2 memory can provide enough to keep dual core processors happy.

With that said, memory manufacturers are working overtime to get high speed DDR2 memory out to the market since first generation DIMMs do not clock high enough to feed a dual core processor. Corsair's new Twin2X1024-8000UL is definitely some speedy memory. The two 512MB DIMMs have a default clock speed of a blistering 1000 MHz while maintaining 5-4-4-9 memory timings with 2.2V. In layman's terms, that means the memory can clock very fast and provide a Pentium D system with plenty of memory bandwidth. ;-)

In terms of performance, even with the memory only running 800 MHz (the highest the P4N Diamond will go without overclocking) we can see a benefit from running faster memory. Business Winstone 2004 and the PCMark series of benchmarks all score higher with the faster memory installed. This should not be a surprise though since those tests are dual core compatible and thus the extra bandwidth is helpful.

The Corsair Twin2X1024-8000UL was very good at overclocking as well. Our test rig topped out at 957 MHz but I do not think it was the memory that was holding us back since the errors I experienced were not the usual memory related ones.

With a retail price of $310 CDN ($264 US) for the Corsair Twin2X1024-8000UL kit, the memory is quite aggressively priced and shouldn't be too much of a burden. If you are looking to get an Intel Pentium D system, you would be well served by equipping the rig with PC2-8000 memory!

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