Supertalent PC3-1600 CL7
3. Testing DDR3 memory
In order to test the SuperTalent DDR3-1600CL7 modules, we used the following setup:
- CPU: Intel E6600 Retail
- Motherboard: Asus P5K3 Deluxe Wi-Fi Edition BIOS 0801 (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:
- Sisoft Sandra 2007 SP1
- PC Mark 05 v1.1.0
- Everest Ultimate Edition 2007
- RightMark Memory Analyzer v3.70
- ScienceMark 2
- SuperPI XS Mod v1.50
- Memset v3.30
Testing DDR3 memory was a new experience for us, so we had to change our testing methodology a bit. We overclocked the Intel E6600 up to 3.60GHz in order to eliminate the CPU factor as much as possible:
Memory Frequency |
Real Frequency |
Voltage |
FSB:RAM |
CPU x |
FSB |
CPU Speed |
DDR3 1333 CL6-6-6-16 |
666.50 |
1.80 |
3:5 |
9 |
400 |
3600 |
DDR3 1600 CL7-7-7-17 |
575.00 |
1.90 |
1:2 |
9 |
400 |
3600 |
DDR3 1800 CL8-8-8-21 |
625.00 |
2.00 |
1:2 |
8 |
450 |
3600 |
| DDR3 1853 CL8-8-8-21 | 926.50 |
Auto |
1:2 |
7 |
463 |
3241 |
Keeping the FSB at 400MHz and CPU multiplier at 9x, we could directly compare DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1600. We then dropped the CPU multiplier to 8x and raised the FSB up to 450MHz in order to maintain 3.6GHz CPU speed. Finally, to find the maximum memory speed, we dropped the CPU multiplier to 7x and raised the FSB.
In all cases, the memory modules had to pass all synthetic memory tests without producing any problems. Note, that results vary from memory module to memory module, and at these very high overclocking speeds, you need very good cooling both for the Northbridge and processor.
Below is the information at each selected memory timing, with CL6, CL7 and CL8:
