How we test. The usage notes are important!
Specifications| Memory | Corsair TR3X6G2000C7GTF | Corsair TR3X6G1866C9DF | Crucial Ballistix Tracer LED 6GB | Crucial CT3KIT12864BA1339 | Crucial CT3KIT25664BA1067 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memory capacity | 6GB (3x 2GB) | 6GB (3x 2GB) | 6GB (3x 2GB) | 3GB (3x 1GB) | 6GB (3x 2GB) |
| Memory speed and timings | 2,000MHz, 7-8-7-20 2T/1T | 1,866MHz, 9-9-9-24 2T | 1,600MHz, 8-8-8-24 2T | 1,33MHz, 9-9-9-24 2T | 1,066MHz, 7-7-7-20 1T |
| Rated voltage | 1.65V | 1.65V | 1.65V | 1.5V | 1.5V |
| CPU | Intel Core i7 965 EE ES (3.20GHz) | ||||
| Core speed | 3.289GHz | 3.20GHz | 3.20GHz and 3.289GHz | 3.20GHz | 3.20GHz |
| Uncore speed | 4.0GHz | 3.73GHz | 3.2GHz | 2.66GHz | 2.66GHz |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte EX58-UD5 | ||||
| BIOS revision | F5d (08/02/2009) | ||||
| Graphics Card | Force3D Radeon HD 4870 512MB | ||||
| Disk drive(s) | Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB | ||||
| Mainboard software | Intel Inf 9.1.01007 | ||||
| Graphics driver | Catalyst 9.1 | ||||
| PSU | Corsair HX1000W | ||||
| Operating System | Windows Vista Business SP1 64-bit | ||||
| Approx. price at time of writing | £475 (posted to UK) | £344.01 | £297.84 | £85 | £145 |
Tests
| 2D benchmarks | SiSoft Sandra 2009 SP2 (15.72) Win64 memory bandwidth
(float) ScienceMark 2.0 memory latency HEXUS.PiFast wPrime (1024M calculation) DivX 6.8.3 encode of 1.22GB file Far Cry 2 benchmarking loading time |
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| 3D Benchmarks | Far Cry 2 v1.01, 1,680x1,050 4x AA, vhq,
ranch long demo. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, OpenGL, 1,024x768 0xAA, 0xAF low Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, OpenGL, 1,680x1,050 4xAA, 16xAF vhq |
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Setup notes - important
We've re-run a bunch of high-quality DDR3 modules with the Gigabyte EX58-UD5 motherboard. Now, the usual apples-to-apples comparison would necessitate an identical core clock-speed but with different memory frequencies that corresponded with the RAM, availed by using the board's memory multipliers. This is how all the modules, bar the 2GHz pack, have been run.Appreciating that a 2GHz memory speed cannot be obtained by using a BCLK of 133MHz, explained on the previous page, we've attempted to keep the core frequency relatively close to 3.2GHz by dropping the CPU's multiplier to 23x and raising BCLK to 143MHz. This way, using a 14x memory-multiplier, the rated frequency can be achieved. What this means is that the DOMINATOR GT's performance isn't directly comparable against the other modules, so we've re-run the Crucial Ballistix Tracer LED DDR3-1,600 pack at the same CPU BCLK, but with a 10x memory-multiplier, leading to a memory speed of 1,430MHz. What we're looking at is how the memory frequency influences overall performance.
The DOMINATOR GT also ran flawlessly with a 1T command rate, and those numbers have also been added.
The following graphs, therefore, have the Corsair DOMINATOR GT 2GHz (2T/1T) directly compared to the Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3-1,600 at 1,430MHz, and then the Ballistix Tracer, at its default 1,600MHz clock, in direct comparison with the DDR3-1,066, DDR3-1,333, and DDR3-1,866 kits. If any of this doesn't make sense hit the right2reply thread.