Memory review of the Corsair Dominator GTX3. Frequency or timings?
In the memory market, we can now confidently single out three leaders: Corsair, Kingston and ADATA. The listed manufacturers are now actively working in two directions: frequency 2000 MHz with timings 7-7-7-20 and frequencies over 2400 MHz with timings 9-11-9-27. And all this at a voltage of 1.65 V. What is better is a high frequency and large latency timings or low latency timings with a lower frequency. Today we will talk about it, and as an example, consider the memory kit Corsair Dominator GTX3.
What platform?
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This first of all should be puzzled every person who chooses a computer or memory. If AMD, then everything immediately falls into place. You need a memory with a frequency of 1866-2000 MHz and as low as possible timings. Optimal 7-7-7-21. Why? It's simple. The feature of AMD chipsets is that at frequencies higher than 2000 MHz, the memory simply cannot work. In the latest chipset 980FX, there is progress, many enthusiasts managed to achieve memory operation at a frequency of 2100 MHz, but no more.
Now let's talk about the Intel-ovsky platforms. The most common today are the X58 and P55 chipsets. But first you need to understand what is the frequency of the memory?
Modern processors operate at a 133 MHz system bus frequency, and memory, in turn, operates at 1333 MHz by default with a 2:10 memory divider. This is a standard set by Intel and it is for this frequency that memory manufacturers sew up timings and voltages in the SPD (for those who do not know what it is - this is firmware for the phone or BIOS for the motherboard) of memory. And buying a kit with the inscription 2000 MHz does not mean that by inserting a RAM into the card, it will work at this frequency itself. We'll have to climb in the BIOS and put all the pens.
For the P55 platform, everything is much simpler. It works without problems memory divider 2:12. This means that, for example, at a processor bus frequency of 200 MHz, it will be possible to achieve the declared memory manufacturer 2400 MHz. For the P55 platform, this is quite relevant, so it is for this chipset that you should chase just behind the high frequency.
On the top-end X58 chipset, things are a little worse, because in processors there is such a thing as Uncore - the frequency of the memory controller. The higher it is, the faster your computer. But for Uncore the rule is true - the Uncore frequency is twice as high as the frequency of the RAM.
This means that the memory operation at a frequency of 2000 MHz will require a Uncore frequency of 4000 MHz. But the processors on the Bloomfield core, that is, the Core i7 920,930,950,960,965,975 cannot work with this air-cooled Uncore frequency. Therefore, the memory will have to be reduced to lower frequencies.
For Nehalem processors - 980X, 990X - this problem is solved by the fact that they have smaller dividers for the Uncore frequency. For example, a 2000 GHz memory works fine with an Uncore frequency of just 3200 MHz.
The result of my reasoning is the following. For the X58 platform, it is more important to have memory with a frequency of 2000 MHz and low timings.
Film-film-film or What can be squeezed out of memory?
Test bench:
- Intel Core i7 990X processor
- Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 motherboard
- RAM 3x2 GB Corsair Dominator GTX3
- hard disk ADATA SSD 128 GB 596
- Antec TPQ 1200 watt power supply
- Sapphire Radeon HD5670 graphics card
- operating system Windows XP SP3
In the “i” test lab , we managed to make the memory work with a nominal frequency of 2400 MHz and timings 9-11-9-27 at a frequency of 2200 MHz with timings 7-7-7-20. True, the voltage had to be raised to 1.76 V.
From the discussion of colleagues in a foreign forum, it became clear that I have very good memory instances, since many GTX3s refuse to work from 7-7-7-20 already at 2000 MHz. Apparently, the whole thing in a variety of memory chips.
Conclusion
Before buying RAM, ask yourself five times what exactly do you want? High frequency or low timings? And five more times think that the steeper the set, the harder it is to configure. For home needs, I’m talking about media centers, there will be enough memory with a frequency of 1600 MHz and timings 8-8-8-24. Well, if you are a gamer or a cool overclocker, then prepare money for “red combs”!
A full test, as well as video memory overclocking will be in the December issue of the journal "i"
What platform?
')
This first of all should be puzzled every person who chooses a computer or memory. If AMD, then everything immediately falls into place. You need a memory with a frequency of 1866-2000 MHz and as low as possible timings. Optimal 7-7-7-21. Why? It's simple. The feature of AMD chipsets is that at frequencies higher than 2000 MHz, the memory simply cannot work. In the latest chipset 980FX, there is progress, many enthusiasts managed to achieve memory operation at a frequency of 2100 MHz, but no more.
Now let's talk about the Intel-ovsky platforms. The most common today are the X58 and P55 chipsets. But first you need to understand what is the frequency of the memory?
Modern processors operate at a 133 MHz system bus frequency, and memory, in turn, operates at 1333 MHz by default with a 2:10 memory divider. This is a standard set by Intel and it is for this frequency that memory manufacturers sew up timings and voltages in the SPD (for those who do not know what it is - this is firmware for the phone or BIOS for the motherboard) of memory. And buying a kit with the inscription 2000 MHz does not mean that by inserting a RAM into the card, it will work at this frequency itself. We'll have to climb in the BIOS and put all the pens.
For the P55 platform, everything is much simpler. It works without problems memory divider 2:12. This means that, for example, at a processor bus frequency of 200 MHz, it will be possible to achieve the declared memory manufacturer 2400 MHz. For the P55 platform, this is quite relevant, so it is for this chipset that you should chase just behind the high frequency.
On the top-end X58 chipset, things are a little worse, because in processors there is such a thing as Uncore - the frequency of the memory controller. The higher it is, the faster your computer. But for Uncore the rule is true - the Uncore frequency is twice as high as the frequency of the RAM.
This means that the memory operation at a frequency of 2000 MHz will require a Uncore frequency of 4000 MHz. But the processors on the Bloomfield core, that is, the Core i7 920,930,950,960,965,975 cannot work with this air-cooled Uncore frequency. Therefore, the memory will have to be reduced to lower frequencies.
For Nehalem processors - 980X, 990X - this problem is solved by the fact that they have smaller dividers for the Uncore frequency. For example, a 2000 GHz memory works fine with an Uncore frequency of just 3200 MHz.
The result of my reasoning is the following. For the X58 platform, it is more important to have memory with a frequency of 2000 MHz and low timings.
Film-film-film or What can be squeezed out of memory?
Test bench:
- Intel Core i7 990X processor
- Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 motherboard
- RAM 3x2 GB Corsair Dominator GTX3
- hard disk ADATA SSD 128 GB 596
- Antec TPQ 1200 watt power supply
- Sapphire Radeon HD5670 graphics card
- operating system Windows XP SP3
In the “i” test lab , we managed to make the memory work with a nominal frequency of 2400 MHz and timings 9-11-9-27 at a frequency of 2200 MHz with timings 7-7-7-20. True, the voltage had to be raised to 1.76 V.
From the discussion of colleagues in a foreign forum, it became clear that I have very good memory instances, since many GTX3s refuse to work from 7-7-7-20 already at 2000 MHz. Apparently, the whole thing in a variety of memory chips.
Conclusion
Before buying RAM, ask yourself five times what exactly do you want? High frequency or low timings? And five more times think that the steeper the set, the harder it is to configure. For home needs, I’m talking about media centers, there will be enough memory with a frequency of 1600 MHz and timings 8-8-8-24. Well, if you are a gamer or a cool overclocker, then prepare money for “red combs”!
A full test, as well as video memory overclocking will be in the December issue of the journal "i"
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/108875/
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