Mushkin PC3200 Level II V2 (2-2-2-5) DDR Memory

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Motherboards | Power Supplies | Memory | Systems | Video Cards

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
Mushkin
Aug. 29, 2004

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Test Setup

The memory was tested in an ABIT IC7-MAX3, which utilizes Intel's 875P chipset. The CPU used was a Pentium 4 2.4c. I found this motherboard to be an excellent overclocker which has allowed me to easily bring a 2.4c to 3.0 GHz. Two 512 MB sticks of Mushkin PC3200 Level II V2 were tested in dual channel against two 512 MB sticks of Corsair PC3200 XL Pro. The FSB (front side bus) to memory ratio was at 1:1 during testing. Both brands of memory used stock timings of 2-2-2-5 unless otherwise noted.

Each benchmark is run three times and the results of each test are averaged together. This helps to reduce most random variations between the tests and should provide a better representation of the performance difference between the different modules and setups.

Test System

Pentium 4 2.4c
ABIT IC7-MAX3
ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256 MB
160 GB SATA Seagate Barracuda (8 MB cache)
LiteOn 16X DVD-ROM
Soyo Raptor 400W Power Supply
Windows XP Professional (all the latest updates except Service Pack 2 installed)

Overclocking

Both 512 MB PC3200 Level II V2 modules were installed in a dual channel configuration in the IC7-MAX3. From within the BIOS, the timings were set to 2-2-2-5 and VDIMM to 2.6 volts. The CPU voltage was set to 1.6 volts; the maximum needed for this processor to hit 3+ GHz. The FSB (front side bus) to RAM ratio was set to 1:1 and the memory clock/FSB to 200 MHz. Leaving the timings at 2-2-2-5, I increased the memory speed in 1 MHz increments and increased the voltage as needed. At 2-2-2-5, the memory hit a wall at 213 MHz with a memory voltage of 2.8v. The stability of the system was stressed by running SiSoft Sandra's Burn-In wizard for 2-3 hours. This is a decent overclock compared to the 209 MHz achieved by Corsair's PC3200 XL Pro.

In order to find the maximum speed overclock possible, I increased the timings up to 3-3-3-7 as I pushed the MHz closer and closer to DDR500. The memory voltage was at its rated maximum of 2.8 volts. The memory clock eventually reached its maximum of 250 MHz, exactly DDR500. While this is not quite as high as Corsair's PC3200 XL Pro was able to achieve (254 MHz), it does show how well the Samsung chips and modules scale.

During the benchmarking, the memory timings are as follows:

2x 512 MB sticks of Corsair TwinX PC3200 XL Pro @ 200 MHz: 2-2-2-5
2x 512 MB sticks of Mushkin PC3200 Level II V2 @ 200 MHz: 2-2-2-5
2x 512 MB sticks of Mushkin PC3200 Level II V2 @ 213 MHz: 2-2-2-5
2x 512 MB sticks of Mushkin PC3200 Level II V2 @ 250 MHz: 3-3-3-7

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: A Closer Look
Page 3: Test Setup / Overclocking
Page 4: SiSoft Sandra 04 / PCMark04
Page 5: ScienceMark 2 / Super Pi
Page 6: Conclusion

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11 User Comments

1 - Posted by MaNiAk21 on August 30, 2004 - 1:17 pm

Mushkin<3 If only I had some money for a memory upgrade now.. that's what I really need right now. I can't believe I still have 256MB still myself..

2 - Posted by Rich on August 30, 2004 - 2:35 pm

Ouch, 256! Hope you are running win2k!

3 - Posted by Brian on August 30, 2004 - 3:56 pm

Ouch! Are you running XP on that computer?

We need some sort of Salvation Army of computer equipment!

4 - Posted by Rich on August 30, 2004 - 8:38 pm

I think that is called my basement, x486 anyone?

5 - Posted by Brian on August 30, 2004 - 8:40 pm

I have a 486 DX2 if anyone is in need!

Man, the good ol' days where you could just clip a little rough heatsink onto the top of a processor. Didn't even know what thermal paste was back then!

6 - Posted by Rich on August 30, 2004 - 8:53 pm

Heatsink?????

7 - Posted by Brian on August 30, 2004 - 8:56 pm

Apparently you have never dealt with the insane heat that is released due to the extreme power of the DX2 series!

8 - Posted by MaNiAk21 on August 31, 2004 - 8:48 pm

LMAO.. actually.. it runs quite well.. on XP.. extremely well in fact, but I CAN notice a difference when playing games at times. Normal desktop use as it is used for most of the time is speedy as hell so I'm good for now. :) But a donation of a/some PC3200+ 512Mb stick(s) would be good. ;)

9 - Posted by Dyrewolph on August 31, 2004 - 9:06 pm

Let me guess... visual settings set to min... performance settings set to max... no background... nothing running in the background except your Antivirus... and your HD gets defragged every 30 minutes?

10 - Posted by MaNiAk21 on September 1, 2004 - 2:02 am

Funny. :P Visual Settings to max.. Quality to max.. background.. defrags on it's own when I'm not looking (Diskeeper is a good piece of software).. and at time AV is the only thing open but what else do I use besides AIM and Winamp that would be open? And as you can't answer that, I think I will.. and the answer? Some stuff.. :P

11 - Posted by pheno on September 23, 2004 - 8:32 am

price is not accurate as of 9/22/04

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