Mad Onion first offered 3DMark benchmark, and 3DMark2001 happens to be the most memory intensive of all the newly named Futuremark series. Below I've also included PCMark04 in the chart. Unfortunately at 250FSB I experienced stability problems in some graphic intense benchmarks. I'm convinced this is a result of the inability to lock (or make any changes) to the PCIe bus speed. The speed must be left on "Auto" in the BIOS and therefore runs up around 120MHz when overclocked to 250FSB at 1:1 aspect ratio! In some later i925EX chipset boards these issues have been resolved, and makers such as Asus are now including PCIe voltage tweaks as well. The AA8 Duramax offers no such BIOS tweaks and any attempt to adjust the PCIe bus speed results in a no-boot.

For the reasons mentioned above the 250FSB results are absent from PCMark04, DOOM3 and Far Cry. While they did run several times, at other times they failed and I prefer not to mislead the reader. This was not, however; a memory related issue, as I verified this raising latencies, VDIMM, etc.



In the chart below I've combined results (Frames Per Second) from the id’s DOOM3 and UBISOFT's FarCry the latter perhaps being the most memory intensive game on the market.



For our final benchmark I've chosen PiFast run to 1M place. While the benchmark benefits from overall processing speed, it also exemplifies the performance increase as a result of low latencies in system memory. There's certainly a reason why the Athlon A64 CPUs fare well in this particular benchmark as the processor's on-die MCH greatly reduces seek time. Just as a processor with larger cache improves performance substantially based on its cache Level (proximity/speed in relation to Core), so too does the A64 design which eliminates the circuitous memory route found on a typically North Bridge MCH based system. A64 based systems have been down in the low 20-second range, with overclocked Pentium Extreme editions in the high 20-second range.



From the results it's clear DDR2 still has some maturing to do. Luckily manufacturers such as Corsair are diligently working to improve the performance DDR2 offers. We are stuck with the standard, at least for now. Will AMD, who has proven they may hold the future of modern CPU design with their on-die MCH (Memory Controller (Hub)) shallow pipelines, and higher number of execution units, ever accept DDR2? (Ed. Note: DDR2 for AMD is scheduled for Q1/Q2 2006). Certainly Intel have had their share of criticism for the design philosophy reminiscent of the complacency Detroit Auto-makers exhibited in the early 1970s? That’s is to say they were unwilling to re-invest profit into R&D and accept the looming gas shortages, and changing desire of Americans to drive smaller performance cars made abroad. Have you been to the Motor City lately and seen the burnt out shells of once great production floors where so many earned their livelihood? Will the neon lights and air-filtration systems fall silent in the house Gordon Moore built? A question for another article perhaps, for now we know Corsair's lights bun bright.




Conclusion

Corsair offers us another DDR2 part offering stability, performance, and ease of use. This memory loves to overclock, and does so with very little voltage increase. Had I a more stable platform I'm sure I could have exceeded 250FSB possibly even at CL3-3-3-6 timings. The memory comes with Corsair's lifetime warranty and is available at Komplett for €299 for the 1024MB pair, and at MonarchPC for $335 (1024MB pair).

Stay tuned for my upcoming DDR2 Roundup article!

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