Memory Tests
A quick word on what to expect with SK8V and FX-51 under the hood. It's got more clock frequency and memory bandwidth than the Model 3200+ system, so it's going to be faster across the board. The question is by how much. Look out for the performance delta to the P4 system too.As always, the memory tests let us examine memory subsystem performance. Pifast first, then Sciencemark 2.0 to help explain the result.
Oof, that's where your pounds go when you purchase FX-51. Dual-channel memory controller and the same frequency that Model 3400+ is just catching up with now means Pifast is plenty fast. Here's why.
5.5GB/sec when going out to main memory is fearsome. Not even the dual-channel 655TX-based P4 board can hope to match it. That's 86% efficient for those without the will to muster up a calculator.
With the memory controller on the processor, accessing attached system memory has very little latency.
The disparity in performance at the same memory controller frequency is down to using registered memory. Extra buffers on the chip for the data to pass through before access on the processor means we lose a few cycles. But as you can see, it's nothing bad and well ahead of anything the Pentium 4 platform can produce.
In summary, low latency is still a buzz term with Socket 940 chips, especially when fed nice memory modules. Dual-channel helps drive the latency-led performance home. Velly velly fass.