PC Mark 2002 - Memory
This synthetic benchmark is one that we here at VL don't put a lot of emphasis on, but we're aware that many of our readers do use it.
The Platinum edges out the Crucial this time around.
PiFast
A good indicator of CPU/Motherboard performance is PiFast version 4.2, by Xavier Gourdon. We used a computation of 10000000 digits of Pi, Chudnovsky method, 1024 K FFT, and no disk memory. Lower numbers are better.
Another good showing by Crucial's PC3200, holding a lead just under one second.
Unreal Tournament 2003
We used the scripts written by Brent @ [H], which are excellent tools in testing various resolutions and detail levels. We selected the CPU test, which uses lower quality settings to offload the strain from the video card.
Despite some variance at the low and high FPS scales, the average FPS is dead even between the products. It is that number you should weigh when looking at the chart above.
Final Words
What I saw today was pretty impressive. For a memory module under , it performed much better than I expected. It also proved to me that heatsinks on memory sticks don't really matter when it comes to overclocking. For aesthetics, it's true that this ram doesn't look like anything special, but why add to the cost of the ram with a fairly useless heatspreader? Of course, if you want to improve the "looks", you can always head down to the store and buy some aluminum heatsinks for for about ten bucks.
Performance was really good, and so was the overclocking. Although the Crucial performed more or less on par with the much more expensive OCZ ram, the big distinction between the Crucial, and the OCZ is the lack of stability when overclocked. The OCZ is much more stable my friends, but I guess it's worth pointing out that Crucial never endorsed overclocking. It still handles OCing, but not as well as other companies who design ram with the OCer in mind.
At stock speeds, the ram was still a decent performer, and extremely stable. We didn't experience any crashes at all at 200FSB, which is obviously an important factor since it is PC3200 afterall. I think this ram will make a pretty good buy for the majority of users who value reliability more than pure overclocking. At for one stick, it's really hard to dismiss this ram, and it would be a good choice if money is an issue.
Pros: Solid performance, very reliable, some overclocking potential, really affordable price.
Cons: Unremarkable appearance, not very stable at high overclocked speeds, high CAS latency.
Bottom Line: For the price, I think this memory deserves a home in a system where reliability is a concern. It isn't slow by any means, and at it's rated speed you won't be let down. If you are looking for some serious stuff for overclocking, you'll be better off looking elsewhere.
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