Corsair 4400C25: Taking Samsung TCCD to New Heights
by Wesley Fink on January 4, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Final Words
The Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25 was an outstanding performer in our benchmarks. This was particularly true on the AMD Athlon 64 platform, where Corsair set new records for top memory speed, top 1T Command Rate memory speed, and Top Performance. The Corsair DDR550 is clearly geared to best performance at the top of the memory charts and it succeeds in reaching that goal.However, this fantastic top-end performance by the Corsair was not without some minor compromise, at least in the DIMMs that we tested. DDR400 performance of the Corsair was nothing special, with a number of other excellent TTCD memory modules outperforming Corsair at DDR400. It certainly appears in binning TCCD chips that the memory, which reaches the very top in memory speeds, is not the same TCCD that performs best at DDR400. However, the real performance penalty at DDR400 is really quite small.
Performance was similar on the Intel memory test bed, but we did not see the dominating performance on Intel that Corsair achieved on the AMD Athlon 64 test platform. On both platforms, below DDR466, there are other Samsung TCCD-based memories that will outperform Corsair. OCZ, G. Skill, and Geil in particular are clearly faster below 466. However, by the time that we reached 466 in the benchmarks, the Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25 was our new performance leader. The further that we went up the memory speed scale, the wider the lead for Corsair. This is mostly due to the aggressive timings possible with Corsair DDR550 at the higher memory speeds, since performance is otherwise the same as other TCCD that we have tested. For example, Corsair required 2-3-3 timings at DDR400, but those same DDR 2-3-3 timings still worked well at DDR500.
If you want the fastest DDR memory that you can buy for the AMD platform, then the Corsair is your choice, although the real performance increase over other top TCCD is very small. The Corsair reaches the highest levels of performance at the top, but with compromises in the DDR400 to 466 range compared to other top TCCD. We think that the compromises are justified, based on how very well the Corsair did at the top. We wondered if we might ever reach DDR600 in our AMD benchmarks, and Corsair blew past that with DDR610 at 1T and continued on to DDR638 at a 2T Command Rate. It even settled in with decent timings, 1T, and top performance at DDR590 - the fastest that we have seen.
For the fastest memory speeds possible, Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25 is your choice. For best performance at DDR400 to DDR466, almost any other Samsung TCCD module will do a little better. For DDR400 at 2-2-2 and top-end performance a bit shy of this extraordinary Corsair memory, you can choose Geil PC3200 Ultra X, Crucial PC3200 Ballistix, OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev.2, PQI 3200 Turbo, or G. Skill TCCD. Your choice depends on exactly where you want to go with memory on your computer.
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DonCornelius - Saturday, January 22, 2005 - link
Can anyone tell me why we can't get 2-2-2 timings on 1GB size DIMMs? The only DIMMs I see with this timings are 512MB and 256MB. Is this marketing or a limit on the technology?Live - Thursday, January 6, 2005 - link
If what PrinceGaz is sayimng about memory on the AMD platform is true I think it would warrant some clarification from Anandtech. If money is an object what gives best bang for the buck. Cheap memory and faster CPU or the other way around?PrinceGaz - Wednesday, January 5, 2005 - link
from #20- "#19 - The $82 PQI Turbo stuff at newegg is 2.5-3-3 timing RAM. The cheapest you can get a 2-2-2 512MB stick of RAM at newegg is the Patriot for $107."Given that we've already got a 2.5-3-3 timings with the PQI, and it was the module that at most was 3% slower on memory-bandwidth bound applications with the Athlon 64, I think that answers my question about why budget memory has not been covered.
You may as well save still more money and get brand-name value-products for an AMD box, unless you are going for a high-end overclocking system with an FX-55 where every component is the best in it's class. Even if overclocking you aren't going to suffer because there is no such thing as an asynchronous memory frequency with an Athlon 64 (there is no Northbridge between the CPU and memory) so just set the budget memory to "DDR333" and you'll be fine for overclocking up to about DDR500.
Actually when you combine the S939 Athlon 64's lack of dependence on memory bandwidth with it's onboard memory controller that ensures any memory speed is equally efficient; when building a mid-range Athlon 64 box you may as well just get cheap brand-name DDR400 and run it at what ever speed it is happiest with after overclocking your CPU. Which makes all these high-end memory review articles pointless for all except extreme overclockers.
eetnoyer - Wednesday, January 5, 2005 - link
#19 - The $82 PQI Turbo stuff at newegg is 2.5-3-3 timing RAM. The cheapest you can get a 2-2-2 512MB stick of RAM at newegg is the Patriot for $107.kmmatney - Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - link
With NewEgg having PQI turbo 3200 at $82, I thinks that's the best deal, probably worth the extra $10 or so over value RAM. In this review it performed almost as well as the top of the line stuff.Googer - Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - link
Correction:the standard JDEC complient ram does not need to be included in the overclocking tests.
Googer - Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - link
All memory should be tested agains JDEC Standard Ramusing JDEC standard Timings For DDR400. Standard ISSUE Crucial (not ballistix) should also be included as a base compairson for all DDR400 Tests.
When it comes to overclocking the JDEC complient ram
does not need to be tested becuase that was never the intent of its design.
Fricardo - Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - link
#'s 6,12,14,15Here here. I couldn't care less about timings...it's not worth the cash to get ever so slightly more performance. I'd just like some decent RAM that'll let me overclock an A64, nothing fancy.
miketheidiot - Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - link
Cheap memory review! Enough of this expensive junk.JustAnAverageGuy - Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - link
#13I think he was thinking more along the lines of say Kingston\Corsair ValueRAM which runs for around $65-70 for a 512MB stick.
Zebo did something similar (see CPU & OC forums), but I've been waiting for the AnandTech review.