Overall Performance Scaling
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I mentioned DDR3-1600 CAS 11 results throughout the article because this JEDEC standard is the baseline for comparing improved parts. Here’s how that performance difference appears on AMD Richland-based platform.
XMP results aren’t important for Adata and Patriot, since the A10 APU wasn’t stable at DDR3-2400 using any memory kit. More important is that both of these modules achieved similar performance at manually-configured DDR3-2133 settings.
Mushkin is the real performance winner on the AMD platform, pushing a 24% performance improvement compared to standard DDR3-1600 while using nothing more aggressive than its rated settings. G.Skill’s DDR3-1866 CAS 10 might get there less expensively through manual tuning, but manual tuning isn’t guaranteed, either.
Intel’s platform does provide stable operation at up to DDR3-2400 data rates, and even lets us push Patriot’s DDR3-2400 kit to DDR3-2666. But the performance benefits are far less noteworthy, as data rates above 2133 MT/s don't help frame rates.
Mushkin’s DDR3-2133 CAS 9 proves its worth by winning, but with only a 10% gain compared to industry-standard DDR3-1600. G.Skill again gets close to it for far less money, but only if you’re sure the sample you buy will overclock as well as the sample we tested.
