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Benchmarks And Final Analysis
I normally evaluate memory at a bunch of settings across a few benchmarks. Without the ability to adjust memory on the Aegis X test system, I decided to generate additional data by running our entire platform benchmark suite. Knowing that future SODIMM analysis could require higher XMP profiles, I included both SPD and XMP modes. And, knowing that the small CPU overclock enabled in concert with XMP provides data that can’t be fairly compared to the baseline RAM, I de-emphasized the setting by placing it at the bottom of each chart.
Synthetic Benchmarks
Memory bandwidth has progressed to the point that most applications can’t take full advantage of small performance improvements. Synthetic benchmarks can get around real-world limits by focusing primarily on the single component being evaluated. Most valuable of these in DRAM testing is Sandra’s Memory Bandwidth.
As promised, Sandra Memory Bandwidth shows additional performance for the Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400 set. We also see the performance advantages of a mildly-overclocked CPU when viewing the XMP mode results, but we’re really trying not to look too hard at cheater mode.
3D Game Performance
Our lower gaming test settings stress graphics less, allowing the rest of the system to pass data through a little more quickly. Grid 2 and Far Cry 3 both benefit very slightly from the greater memory bandwidth of DDR4-2400, though something went wrong with cheater mode in Far Cry 3.
Timed Benchmarks
One-second differences in timed benchmarks don’t mean much, since they can result from rounding up or down in the thousandths of a second. None of our timed benchmarks are consistent to less than a tenth of a second. Photoshop OpenCL is the single benchmark that stands out with a two second difference favoring the Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400.
At $140, the 32GB Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400 costs less than twice as much as the 16GB Hynix standard DDR4-2133. Users who want an excuse to buy more RAM need only look at the red bar in the graph to appease their value consciences. Meanwhile, buyers looking for an excuse to save money by not upgrading their memory capacity will be happy with the turquoise bars above.
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