Test Setup

ABIT IC7-MAX3: Pentium 4 2.4C, 2 x 512MB Mushkin PC4000, ATI AIW Radeon 9800 Pro, 120GB Seagate, Windows XP SP1, ATI Catalyst 3.6.

Benchmarks will be presented at 200FSB, 250FSB and maximum OC. Keep in mind that the numbers at maximum OC will be skewed since we're running 1:1 and the CPU's speeds will be different when showing each memory's OC speed. There isn't anything I can do with this since it's impossible to set the memory speeds independently with the CPU FSB unless we go with a lower memory divider.

Test Software for both platforms will be:

AVI-to-MPG Encoding
Unreal Tournament 2003

Game Accelerator will be configured at Street Racer for 200FSB, and Auto for the rest. Competing sticks will be OCZ's 1GB PC4000 EL Gold, 1GB Kingston HyperX PC4000, and the Corsair TWINX1024-4000 Pro Series. At 200FSB, all the competing ram kits will be running at 2-3-3-5, and the HyperX at 2-3-3-6. At 250FSB, the ProSeries will be running at 2.5-3-3-6, whereas the OCZ and Kingston kits will be at 2.5-4-3-6, since neither could do 2.5-3-3-6. The Mushkin will run at 2.5-4-3-7, which was the best I could manage at those speeds. All the ram modules will be running at 3-4-4-8 at their maximum overclocks.

SiSoftware Sandra 2003 Memory - Pentium 4 @ 12x200

Although a synthetic benchmark, it's a popular one, freely available if you wish to make comparison benchmarks. We will be testing the memory speeds only. All memory timings are at 2-3-3-5, with the exception of the HyperX, which will be at 2-3-3-6.

SiSoftware Sandra 2003 Memory - Pentium 4 @ 12x250

At 200 and 250FSB, Mushkin only trails the Corsair TWINX by a slight margin, and edges out the other two, despite running at a slight timing disadvantage at 250FSB. Not bad at all.

SiSoftware Sandra 2003 Memory - Pentium 4 @ Maximum OC (Mushkin @ 280FSB)

In case you missed it in our last reviews, the TWINX kit is clicking away at 285FSB, the HyperX at 272FSB, and the OCZ EL Gold at 280FSB. Trailing the TWINX by 5MHz, Mushkin still performs within percentage points of Corsair's finest.

PC Mark 2002 - Pentium 4 @ 12x200

PC Mark 2002 - Pentium 4 @ 12x250

Very close across the board, and the Mushkin PC4000 finishes in a solid second place.

PC Mark 2002 - Pentium 4 @ Maximum OC (Mushkin @ 280FSB)

The CPU clock speed differences between the ram modules account for the differences in performance. Given that the IC7-MAX3 doesn't allow memory speed adjustments independent of the CPU speeds, there isn't much we can do here. Anyhow, this is a purely synthetic test, so let's see if things look up as we move to real world tests.