In order to test the Mushkin PC2-6400 modules, we used the following setup:

• CPU: Intel XE6600 @ 2.4GHz
• Motherboard: Asus P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi Edition BIOS 0903 (beta)
• PSU: OCZ GameXStream GXS600 SLI-Ready
• VGA: MSI 7600GT Silent (stock memory/core timings)
• HDD: WD 800JB
• OS: Windows XP SP2 with all the latest updates installed

While for benchmarking, we used:

• Memtest86+ v1.65
• Sisoft Sandra 2007 SP1
• RightMark Memory Analyzer v3.70
• Pov-Ray v3.7 Beta15
• SuperPI XS Mod v1.50
  

The Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard offers various CPU:RAM ratio configurations and high overclocking tuning precision. With CPU-Z, we can check the properties of the memory modules. Note that the embedded timings are rather "slow", but you can achieve much faster results with manual settings and of course, the appropriate testing:

For all tests, we manually set the FSB to 266MHz. That made the CPU run at 2.40GHz and we then used the various built-in CPU:RAM ratios to underclock/overclock the memory:

Each CPU:RAM ratio offers a different performance which was benchmarked with various software. For each setting, we tried to find the most aggressive timings that offer the best possible performance. Before each benchmark test, the system had to pass a 30min trial with Memtest86+ v1.65 without producing any errors. All benchmarks were doubly confirmed and all displayed results are the average of both measurements.

- Overclocking

The user has to manually set aggressive timings and of course, memory voltages. All tests we done at 2.25V, since the Asus P5B Deluxe doesn't offer a 2.20V setting. Below are the best timings we managed to get and the real frequency of each memory speed:

The test results are very good. The HP2-6400 is being sold as a DDR2 800 kit, however it can easily reach DDR2 965 without a very high memory voltage. After reaching DDR2 890, the user has to relax the timings (5-5-5-15) in order to reach DDR2 950, resulting in lower performance than other PC2-6400 memory modules. Nevertheless, the overclocking results would be very good, especially at such high FSB frequencies.

Update: Mushkin suggests using the following settings with the P5B Deluxe for a slightly higher FSB:

• 5
• 5
• 5
• 15
• 6
• 42
• 4-5
• 11-12
• 5-7
• 12-14
• Disabled

Unfortunately, this recommendation came after we had completed our tests, so we cannot provide any figures for these settings. Nevertheless, owners of the P5B Deluxe can try it and see if they can't squeeze out a few more MHz!