Faster Than P4/3000: P4/2666 With 533 MHz RDRAM
As we've already noted in our last article about this topic, an overclocked Pentium 4/3000 cannot reach its full potential when used with DDR SDRAM. The main problem lies with the memory bandwidth limit, which is 2.1 GB/s with normal DDR266 modules. The benchmark results of previous tests have shown that an AMD Athlon XP 2300+ (which we had also overclocked) can be a downright challenge for the Pentium 4/3000 in many of the categories. However, don't forget that Athlon XP 2300+ actually runs at 1866 MHz.
The picture does change when a Pentium 4/2666 is paired with 533 MHz Rambus memory that has access to a bandwidth of 4.2 GB/s. Then, add to that a Front Side Bus clock that has been increased from 100 MHz to 133 MHz. If you compare the benchmark results of the Pentium 4/3000 from the last test to the scores achieved by the Pentium 4/2666, it quickly becomes clear that performance-scaling at higher clock speeds can only be attained via RDRAM.
Same Price: RDRAM And DDR-SDRAM
The meaning of each element on the labeling for Rambus modules.