Introduction

Corsair continues its legacy providing the PC-world with high performance cutting edge memory designs. They are truly a company which dares to go where no others have gone before, and the announcement of their XPERT memory is evidence of this goal. Corsair has always made it a priority to appeal to that niche market segment of overclockers and enthusiasts who demand much more from their memory then JEDEC standards stipulate. Today we'll evaluate a true enthusiast part: Corsair's 4300C3PRO, it doesn't measure temp as EXPERT does, however; it features real-time LED bank activity. Most importantly this latest DDR2 part brings latencies down to CL3-3-3-6 which brand this memory with some of the tightest timings of any DDR2 to date.



With so many recent coverts to the overclocking community, manufactures have tried to make overclocking and BIOS tweaking as simple as possible. This manifests itself in software such as MSI's Core Cell, and Abit's µGuru the latter featuring a specialized controller chip made for just this purpose. These utilities offer a plethora of options including voltage monitoring/adjustment, fan-speed monitoring/adjustment, and of course CPU monitoring/frequency adjustment all from within the Operating System.

While these programs can do much of what was once done only in the BIOS, they do have their limitations. Some do not offer the ability to adjust memory timings, and of course timings (latencies) are an integral ingredient in the overclocking recipe. I was pleasantly surprised while testing this memory to discover that the SPD (Serial Presence Detect) maintains the CL3-3-3-6 timings even while overclocked. Someone who doesn't have a wealth of experience could simply avoid the Advanced Chipset menu option leaving timings on Auto, or SPD and still successfully overclock.



Test Setup & Overclocking

Test System
CPU	Intel P4 550 Retail-3.4GHz LGA 775
Mainboard	Abit AA8
Memory	Corsair 4300C3PRO 1024MB kit (SPD)
Graphics Card	ATI Radeon X800 XT
Power Supply	OCZ Power Stream 420W
Operating System	Windows XP SP2
H20 System	Alphacool Xtreme Pro Set utilizing NexXxos BOLD for S775

I ran series of benchmarks first at default system speed (3.4GHz/200FSB) and then repeating the series at the highest stable system overclocked speed (4.0GHz/240FSB). I ran the memory at a 1:1 ratio in all tests and at 1.95V while overclocked. Benchmarks included Everest v1.51, SuperPi, Sandra 2005, ScienceMark, CPUBench2003, DOOM III, and FarCry. To exemplify the memory's ability to hold its timings regardless of FSB speed, I've provided a few screenshots. First at 3.4GHz 200FSB/1:1, and the second at 4.0GHz 240FSB/1:1:




While I was able to run most almost every benchmark to 250FSB (4.2GHz) in 1:1 ratio, Far Cry crashed half way through the demo regardless. While I did raise Vcore, VDDR, and NB voltage, there's no way to raise video card voltage, nor lock the PCIe bus successfully. To date I'm unaware of any i915X/i925X chipset based PCIe 16X motherboard which offer graphic card voltage adjustment, or supply a BIOS able to lock the PCIe bus without errors. The Abit AA8 provides PCIe adjustability; however this results in a system crash whether done in Windows through µGuru or in the BIOS itself.

I'm convinced in our case the inability to bench FarCry/Doom3/PCMark04 at 250FSB is graphics card related, as I've experienced the same problem repeatedly with higher rated memory (PC2-5400) memory installed. I've supplied a Sandra bandwidth benchmark at 250FSB, and will include other successful 250FSB benchmarks as well given the circumstances.



Holding their latencies at 250FSB is quite an accomplishment, and were it not for BIOS/motherboard limitations I've no doubt we could have taken this memory a notch higher.

Benchmarks



Next the Lavalys benchmark replacing Aida32 Everest v1.51 which includes a latency measurement:




The memory holds up well overclocked at 250FSB at 1:1 aspect ratio this is a significant increase over its default speed.

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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