What's The Fastest Memory For Overclocking? Continued

Each DDR2 memory module - the test version and the one we purchased - is being tested on a separate PC system; both systems have identical hardware components. While the machines are running, the memory clock is gradually increased until the system crashes. This method ensures that the uppermost limit has been reached; the procedure is the same as that used by overclockers. This test gives the user precise information about which memory modules are suitable for high clocking rates and which are not.

The following memories are on the test schedule in the next few days:

• GeIL
• Kingston
• OCZ
• Samsung
• Mushkin

This live stress test links seamlessly to the previous comparison test, where we investigated 16 different manufacturers with modules ranging from DDR2-533 through DDR2-1000. The conclusion of this test series was that the memory from Corsair and Patriot Memory was most convincing, and Aeneon did not do badly either. Both GeIL and TakeMS had some shortcomings, however.

Since some memory modules are not available everywhere for retail, we concentrated on the five candidates listed above.

Overview Stress Test Live Memory
Status	Date	Memory Module	Results
	Tuesday, April 11	GeIL DDR2-667 CL5.0-5-5-15 2.2 Volt single sided 64 Mbit x 8	The retail memory crashed at 421 MHz while the review sample was able to reach 471 MHz before crashing. On April 12, we found that the used processor was the culprit, because it did not overclock reliably enough. We will repeat this test next weekend.
	Wednesday, April 12	Kingston DDR2-900 CL5.0-5-5-15 2.2 Volt single sided 64 Mbit x 8	Kingston did well: The review sample crashed at 471 MHz, while the retail bought RAM did better and crashed at 476 MHz.
	Thursday, April 13, to Monday, April 17	GeIL DDR2-667 CL5.0-5-5-15 2.2 Volt single sided 64 Mbit x 8	We repeated this test run over the weekend due to test system issues. GeIL's DDR2-667 now hit DDR2-942 speed both with the retail bought DIMMs and the review samples.
	Tuesday, April 18	OCZ DDR2-800 CL5.0-5-5-15 2.2 Volt single sided 64 Mbit x 8	The retail bought memory achieved 455 MHz, while the review samples went up to 473 MHz. This is a 3.8% difference.
	Wednesday, April 19	Samsung DDR2-667 CL5.0-5-5-15 2.2 Volt single sided 64 Mbit x 8	Samsung retail memory outperformed the review samples by 14%.
	Thursday, April 20	A-Data DDR2-1000 vs. Corsair DDR2-1000 CL5.0-5-5-15 2.2 Volt single sided 64 Mbit x 8	Neither A-Data and Corsair hit their DDR2-1000 goals on the Gigabyte test motherboard.

Test is scheduled Bought memory does not perform as good as the test sample Test running Bought memory performs like the test sample