DDR3 Performance: What Makes Memory Perform Better?

[Guest]

What makes one memory platform better than the other? In this article we go through benchmark testing and analysis to give you an idea of what you can expect from different DRAM sets running on Intel and AMD so you can get the best DDR3 performance.

DDR3 Performance: What Makes Memory Perform Better? : Read more

 

[blackmagnum]

Since the dawn of computer memory: Faster data rates=More access latency.

 

[Damn_Rookie]

It's great to see you getting the chance to do some articles on here, [strike]Tradesman1[/strike] Jim

 

[PaulBags]

Interesting. I'll be coming back here several times over the next several months, as I save up for & consider options for a new computer. Good to know 2x 2 stick kits arn't nessicarily equal to a 4 stick kit, and annoying since I don't see many 4 stick kits in local online stores.

Also good to know frequency has such a measurable impact on compression, I probably don't need fancy high freq ram but now I'm going to be more annoyed my budget won't allow it.

Thanks for the ponderous read!

 

[Cryio]

This was such an eye opening read. Until now I though different ram frequencies really didn't amount to much. By those times in multitasking ? Wow.

 

[damric]

Thanks Tman. Looks like you really worked your butt off in this testing.

 

[Crashman]

Since the dawn of computer memory: Faster data rates=More access latency.

Nope. Latency stays roughly the same while clock cycles speed up. DDR3-1333 CAS 6 and DDR3-2666 CAS 12 have the same latency in nanoseconds, the number of cycles doubles while each cycle occurs in half the time.

 

[synphul]

Pretty good review, made for a fun read. I'm still amazed at the ram incompatibility when mixing different sets. I know it exists, it's not the first time people have experienced this. I've mixed various ram just on a roll of the dice and I guess I've been lucky. The brand mixing was random. When upgrading one system from ddr2 to ddr3 I threw 2x2gb of patriot in with 2x2gb of geil evo one without issue. When upgrading one of these systems and adding ram, I added 2x4gb of team zeus at 1600mhz with 2x4gb of geil evo corsa at 1333mhz and just let the motherboard configure it and match to the lower speeds/settings. No issues with either.

 

[xFolterknechtx]

1.65V sticks on Z87/97 boards? I think the upper limit Intel mentioned in their white paper for Ivy and Haswell was something around 1.55 - 1.575V for DRAM voltage.

Do what you want with your hardware guys, but I ll stay clear of these voltages.

 

[Pierre Olivier Vidal]

I have 2 questions for future articles.
1 - Why do memory control sugest no higher voltage then 1.65V yet my DRAM says it can handle up to 2.4V and why would they make a DRAM capable of handling 2.4V if no memory control can push safely over 1.65V? ( I'm runing on Kingston Beast 32GB 2400MHz )
2 - Why is there some DRAMs that are not compatible with some motherboards, what makes it compatible or not?

 

[Onus]

I would hate to risk shortening the life of an expensive Intel CPU by running more than 1.6V through its IMC. You raised it to 1.7??

 

[InvalidError]

When you have two different dual-DIMM kits that refuse to "play nice" with each other, it would be interesting, for completeness' sake, to also verify that the same two DIMM model pairs will play nice with another pair of the same model. Possibly even test permutations of those pairs to see how much of the pass/fail combinations might ultimately be luck of the draw with process yields.

 

[josejones]

Ok, I'll bite:

"Can I use any DDR3 1600 DRAM in my system?"

Well, can I use my Mushkin 8g DDR3 at 1600 in my new Skylake build or not? At least until I can afford 16g DDR4 at 3200?

 

[TechyInAZ]

Thx for the post sir. I did not know that putting two separate sets of sticks into a single motherboard can pose such a problem.

 

[Sabishii Hito]

CMY32GX3M4A2400C10R is no longer available for purchase even from Corsair directly; the SKU seems to be EOL. The Amazon link goes to a 2x8GB kit of DDR3-1600C9. Corsair only sells the much more expensive Dominator Platinum CMD32GX3M4A2400C10 kit now, if one is looking for 4x8GB DDR3-2400C10 from them.

 

[zodiacfml]

Could you revisit the SSD versus more RAM testing, where there's less wear on the SSD with more memory?

 

[AndrewBA]

When You benchmarked the RAM at 1600MHz, what timings did You use? Were they the same as at 2400MHz, or from the DIMMs' SPD, or custom-set for best performance?

Thanks!

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Very well-written and thorough, I can tell you put a lot into these tests.

 

[Tradesman1]

1.65V sticks on Z87/97 boards? I think the upper limit Intel mentioned in their white paper for Ivy and Haswell was something around 1.55 - 1.575V for DRAM voltage.

Do what you want with your hardware guys, but I ll stay clear of these voltages.

Here's a data sheet from Intel

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/core-i5-processor-memory-datasheet.pdf

 

[Tradesman1]

I have 2 questions for future articles.
1 - Why do memory control sugest no higher voltage then 1.65V yet my DRAM says it can handle up to 2.4V and why would they make a DRAM capable of handling 2.4V if no memory control can push safely over 1.65V? ( I'm runing on Kingston Beast 32GB 2400MHz )
2 - Why is there some DRAMs that are not compatible with some motherboards, what makes it compatible or not?

_____________________

Early DDR3 went to higher voltages - I myself wouldn't go to 2 (except in extreme OCing and Suicide Shots), I seldom even take it to 1.7, thought the DRAM and MC can handle that safely.

Question 2 I get much deeper into, in the followup article I am preparing...There are numerous things that can factor in, one main item with older mobos is that memory chips today are generally all high density (4Gb) which older mobo chipsets aren't compatible with.

 

[Tradesman1]

When you have two different dual-DIMM kits that refuse to "play nice" with each other, it would be interesting, for completeness' sake, to also verify that the same two DIMM model pairs will play nice with another pair of the same model. Possibly even test permutations of those pairs to see how much of the pass/fail combinations might ultimately be luck of the draw with process yields.

____________________

I've tried something similar to that and had results that didn't make a lot of sense which is why I often refer to mixing as being a 'crapshoot'. Might have 4 identical sets and 1-2 play nice, 2-3 play nice but 1-3 won't...and maybe 4 won't play play with any of the 1, 2, 3 sets

T

 

[Tradesman1]

Ok, I'll bite:

"Can I use any DDR3 1600 DRAM in my system?"

Well, can I use my Mushkin 8g DDR3 at 1600 in my new Skylake build or not? At least until I can afford 16g DDR4 at 3200?

____________-

Think that remains to be seen, I believe they expect to still have Skylake be backward compatible with DDR3, so we will prob see Hybrid mobos, like the last of the circa 775 chipset mobos that could go either/or (here would be DDR3 or DDR4)

 

[InvalidError]

I've tried something similar to that and had results that didn't make a lot of sense which is why I often refer to mixing as being a 'crapshoot'. Might have 4 identical sets and 1-2 play nice, 2-3 play nice but 1-3 won't...and maybe 4 won't play play with any of the 1, 2, 3 sets

That was exactly what I had in mind: show that "identical sets" are not necessarily as identical as people think and that "matched sets" do not necessarily guarantee quad-DIMM operation - at least not without some extra effort.

 

[Tradesman1]

CMY32GX3M4A2400C10R is no longer available for purchase even from Corsair directly; the SKU seems to be EOL. The Amazon link goes to a 2x8GB kit of DDR3-1600C9. Corsair only sells the much more expensive Dominator Platinum CMD32GX3M4A2400C10 kit now, if one is looking for 4x8GB DDR3-2400C10 from them.

________________

It appears that is correct, this is the set Corsair sent for the testing.

 

[Tradesman1]

Could you revisit the SSD versus more RAM testing, where there's less wear on the SSD with more memory?

___________________

That is one I've had in the back of my mind, thanx for the suggestion, will look into the possibility