At 272 FSB, we can see the system ripping through the benchmarks here. What you will probably notice though is the jump past 250FSB doesn't net us as big of an improvement as 200FSB to 250FSB. Of course, there's a 23MHz difference (250-200=50, 272-250=22), but percentage-wise, performance started to level off.
Final Words
When it comes to overclocking, it's pretty tough to ignore what the Corsair TWINX1024-4000 showed us today. We've always said that if you're investing in a Dual Channel motherboard, you are going to save yourself a lot of headaches if you spend the extra money for ram that is qualified to work in Dual Channel mode.
Combatibility-wise, Corsair has tested extensively with the ASUS P4C800 Canterwood (as well as others, including the troublesome IS7 and IC7), so it's a good bet those of you who own the board shouldn't have any problems. The TWINX1024-4000 worked like a charm in our ABIT IS7-G Springdale, and it worked (and OC'd exactly the same) in our ABIT IC7 Canterwood. However, once we tried anything past 250FSB, we ran into a lot of problems. We've also had some difficulties with the nForce 2, as it seems the TWINX likes to run syncronous, and running async didn't work very well. With the MSI 865PE, getting to 250FSB still hasn't happened yet (which we hope is fixed with a BIOS update. We tried both sticks in the MSI MEGA 651, and the PC operated fine, albeit at 166MHz and in Single Channel mode.
Performance was off the charts, as it easily surpassed the performance of all ram modules tested here at VL thus far. One thing we have never been able to do until the TWINX1024-4000 arrived was to run the ram synchronous at a 250FSB. I had hoped for a bigger jump in performance once we passed 250FSB though, but I think the architecture of the P4 may have something to do with it here.
Complaints? None really, but we do have a few things to nitpick about. For one thing, the ram runs very hot, which is due to the extra voltage needed to run at 250FSB (the bump in FSB also had something to do with it).
It can be argued that we don't need PC4000 ram since the nForce 2 Ultra 400 and the Intel i865PE/i875P officially support PC3200, but we disagree. Sure, if you have no desire to overclock, then this ram isn't for you. If you've read this far, you're at least entertaining the idea. Currently, no ram we've tested allowed for a 1:1 CPU and memory ratio until today. We've shown you the benchmarks, and yes, it makes a difference in benchmarks, and in real-world apps.
Your ticket to 500MHz doesn't come cheap though. The kit we've reviewed today was 1GB, which chimes in at , but there are TWINX512-4000 kits available which should be a little more reasonable, though still likely to put a small dent in the wallet. Make no mistake though, you're paying for some quality stuff that is fast, stable and reliable.
Pros: Fastest ram on the planet. Works like a champ in Dual Channel mode out of the box. Stable.
Cons: Runs hot. Possible compatibility issues. Expensive.
Bottom Line: Corsair has long been the memory of choice for many enthusiasts. Reliable, and fast are what you'll hear many say when asked about Corsair. You do pay a price premium, but take a look at what happens if you stick ass ram in your PC and you'll see why it pays to spend the extra cash. If you got any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.
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