Testing Methodology
I ran each test five times, removing the high and low scores and averaging the remaining three scores.
MORE: Haswell And Richland Memory Scaling: Picking A 16 GB DDR3 Kit
Intel System
I enabled XMP (eXtreme Memory Profile), which set all the DRAM correctly to their specification (2400 and manufacturer's specified timings) with the exception of the ADATA and AMD sets, where two sets (2x8GB) of DRAM were provided to fulfill the 32GB. This often happens when people mix sets of DRAM, and as here, even with identical sets of DRAM. Often, one can make minor voltage and/or timing adjustments to get the sets or sticks to play, but not always. This is why DRAM manufacturers offer such a wide variety of sets of DRAM in 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 stick sets; the DRAM in a given package is all tested to work together. DRAM today, especially in the higher frequencies and tighter timings, is made to such high tolerances that many factors can affect the ability of sticks to play nicely together.
AMD System
The Asus Crosshair V Formula Z uses DOCP (DRAM Over Clock Profile) — which is basically a derivative or version of XMP tailored somewhat to the frequency of the DRAM, as opposed to XMP, which pulls and directly uses the actual timings found in the SPD as programmed in by the DRAM manufacturers. AMD also utilizes other overclock profiling found on other AMD motherboards, like AMP (AMD Memory Profiles) and EOCP (Easy Over Clocking Profiles). The one exception was to use AMP for the AMD Radeon Gaming DRAM which set up both sets of DRAM to spec settings of 11-12-12-31, 1.65. Under DOCP the DRAM was set to the same as the rest of the sets: 11-13-13-35, 1.65, indicating that with these sets, DOCP simply sets the DRAM to what it is programmed to believe the best timings are for 2400 DRAM. This occurred with both the CL10 sets and the CL11 sets, and all of the sets ran fine at these settings. However, as the specification timings are tighter on all sets, I set the timings manually to the DRAM manufacturers' specifications.
Before getting into the testing results, I had mentioned looking at DRAM set up problems on both platforms and there were indeed a few.
