Doom 3	Source: id Software

Doom 3 is the most advanced game to date. it takes advantage of the latest videocard technology and pushes the processing power of the CPU to its absolute limit. At its highest setting, Ultra quality, texture sizes pass the 500MB mark which means even tomorrow's videocards will have a hard time running everything. The frame rates in the game itself are locked at 60 fps so anything above that point is wasted. Each test is run three times with the third run being recorded.

Doom 3
LQ 640x480:	FPS	Ranking
2x 512MB Patriot PEP5125600ELK PC5600 (200/400)	127.5
2x 512MB Corsair TwinX1024-3200XL PRO (200/400)	126.4
2x 512MB Centon GEMiNi PC3200 (200/400)	125.7
2x 512MB Crucial Ballistix PC4000 (200/400)	126.3
2x 512MB Crucial Ballistix PC4000 (273/546)	134.8

Doom 3 has always loved high bandwidth systems and here we finally see some real benefits from the increased memory frequency.

Max Memory Overclocking Results

It's great to see how individual memory stacks up against one another under stock configuration, but we're also going to show how they stack up to each other when overclocked. The results are listed below for some of the recent memory to cross PCSTATS' test bench. All memory was tested at its most lax timings as well as its most aggressive. In terms of best overall overclocking performance, PCStats currently gives more weight to the combination of moderately high speeds and low latencies (2-2-2-5) than high speeds at the expense of latency timings.

Maximum Overclocked Speeds - PCstats Results
Maximum Speed w/ Low Latency	Timings	Max Speed	Ranking
OCZ PC4000 Gold DC VX	2-2-2-5	536 MHz
Mushkin HP3200 Redline	2-2-2-5	522 MHz
PDP PDC1G3200+XBLK PC3200	2-2-2-5	512 MHz
Mushkin PC3200 LII V2	2-2-2-5	508 MHz
Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25PT	2-2-2-5	506 MHz
Corsair TwinX3200XL	2-2-2-5	504 MHz
OCZ PC3500 Gold GX	2-2-2-5	500 MHz
Patriot PDC1G5600ELK PC5600	2-3-2-5	494 MHz
Centon GEMiNi PC3200	2-2-2-5	492 MHz
Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC4000	2-2-2-5	474 MHz
OCZ PC4800 Platinum	2-2-2-5	468 MHz
Crucial Ballistix PC4000	2-2-2-5	446 MHz
Corsair Xpert Memory PC3200	2-2-2-5	442 MHz
OCZ PC4000 Gold*	2.5-3-3-6	424 MHz
Maximum Speed	Timings	Max Speed	Ranking
Patriot PDC1G5600ELK PC5600	3-5-5-9	674 MHz
OCZ PC4800 Platinum	2.5-4-4-10	636 MHz
Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25PT	2.5-4-4-8	624 MHz
Mushkin PC3200 LII V2	3-4-4-8	614 MHz
PDP PDC1G3200+XBLK PC3200	3-4-4-8	610 MHz
Centon GEMiNi PC3200	3-3-3-9	604 MHz
Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC4000	3-4-4-8	594 MHz
Corsair TwinX3200XL	3-4-4-8	574 MHz
OCZ PC4000 Gold DC VX	3-4-4-8	566 MHz
Mushkin HP3200 Redline	3-4-4-8	552 MHz
Crucial Ballistix PC4000	3-4-4-8	546 MHz
OCZ PC3500 Gold GX	3-4-4-8	514 MHz
OCZ PC4000 Gold*	3-4-4-8	506 MHz
Corsair Xpert Memory PC3200	2.5-3-3-6	470 MHz

* - 2GB dual channel kit, the rest are 1GB.

The Crucial Ballistix PC4000 memory is not the fastest we've ever tested, however its performance is not too shabby.

Crucial has been supplying memory to computer users for years and enthusiasts everywhere were thrilled to hear about Crucial's entrance into the high end memory market. Its Ballistix memory has made quite an impression since then. With regards to the Crucial Ballistix PC4000 (2x512MB) DDR memory modules we tested here, they are certainly good for the no fuss overclocker who wants good memory without spending hours tweaking.

With a default clock speed of 250 MHz at 3-4-4-8 memory timings (2.8V), the two 512MB sticks of memory have no problems running tight timings when clocked a bit more conservatively. A speed of 200 MHz with 2-2-2-5 timings is a go, but if you really want to push your system loosen up the memory timings and watch it fly.

The particular Crucial Ballistix PC4000 DIMMs we tested were able to reach an overclocked speed 273 MHz, not bad for memory with a retail price of $234 CDN ($200 US). I think if you're looking for some no fuss enthusiast calibre memory from a great company, Crucial can deliver the goods.

Find out about this and many other reviews by joining the Weekly PCstats.com Newsletter today! Catch all of PCstats latest hardware reviews right here.

Related Articles

Here are a few other articles that you might enjoy as well...