System setup and notes
HEXUS test PC and memory specs
| Memory | Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1,600 EPP2.0 | G.Skill F3-12800CL7D-2GBHZ | Crucial BL12864BE2009 | Corsair XMS2 DOMINATOR DDR2-800 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memory capacity | 4GB (2x 2GB) | 2GB (2x 1GB) | 2GB (2x 1GB | 4GB (2x 2GB) |
| Memory speed and timings | 1,600MHz, 9-9-9-24 2T | 1,600MHz, 7-7-7-18 2T | 2,000MHz, 9-9-9-28 2T | 1,066MHz, 5-5-5-15 2T |
| Rated Voltage | 1.8V | 1.9V | 1.9V | 2.1V (DDR2) |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 @ 3,200MHz and 1,600MHz bus speed | |||
| Motherboard | eVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI | XFX nForce 780i SLI | ||
| BIOS revision | P06 |
P01 |
||
| Graphics Card | BFG GeForce 9800 GTX | |||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 160GB SATAII (ST3160812AS) | |||
| Mainboard software | NVIDIA device driver 9.64 | |||
| Graphics driver | ForceWare 174.74 | |||
| PSU | Corsair HX1000W | |||
| Operating System | Windows Vista Business 64-bit | |||
| Approx. price at time of writing | £239.84 | £103.42 | £230.29 | £79.72 |
Tests
| 2D benchmarks | ScienceMark 2.0 memory bandwidth ScienceMark 2.0 memory latency CPU-Z latency SiSoft Sandra XII Lite Win64 memory bandwidth HEXUS DivX 6.6.1 encoding |
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| 3D Benchmarks | Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, DX9, 1,024x768 Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, OpenGL, 1,024x768 |
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Setup notes
We've run an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 processor at its native 3.2GHz and 1,600MHz FSB.The premise here is to see just how fast 4GB of DDR3-1,600MHz is, and to do this we've compared it to a couple of 2GB packs of high-speed DDR3 as well as a 4GB set of tried-and-trusted DDR2 operating at half the speed but with better timings.
Is DDR3 worth it on a platform held back by a front-side bus? Let's find out.