As with our other DDR-2 reviews, the test rig consists of the excellent Asus P5WD2-E motherboard, an Intel Pentium 4 D 920 CPU and a Radeon X1900XTX video card. To test the memory, we ran multiple passes of Memtest86+ v1.65 at each setting until we received errors. We then increased memory voltage and re-tested, repeating the process until we could raise vdimm no more. The Mushkin naturally passed Memtest fine at its rated speed and timings, DDR2-800 4-4-3-10, and we were actually able to reduce these latencies further to 3-4-3-10. Something the Intel 975X chipset allows us to do is change memory dividers to either increase or decrease memory speed while keeping the CPU bus the same.
533MHz
667MHz
750MHz
800MHz
840MHz
870MHz
900MHz
950MHz
Mushkin XP2-6400 DDR2 2GB
3-3-3-10
3-3-3-10
3-4-3-10
3-4-3-10
4-4-3-10
4-4-3-10
4-4-3-10
4-4-4-10
Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 2GB
4-3-3-12
4-3-3-12
4-3-3-12
4-4-4-12
4-4-4-12
4-4-4-12
FAIL
FAIL
Corsair Value Select PC2-5300 2GB
4-4-4-12
4-4-4-12
FAIL
FAIL
FAIL
FAIL
FAIL
FAIL
As you can see the Mushkin memory is capable of lower latencies at speeds below 800MHz, as well as lower latencies than advertised at its stock speed and above. Our previous DDR2 overclocking champ, the Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 is easily surpassed by the Mushkin, which went on to a mammoth 992MHz. Despite our closeness to hitting the magical 1GHz mark we simply couldn’t get it to pass Memtest 86 at 1000MHz even when relaxing the timings and bringing the voltage to potentially dangerous levels. Whether this was down to the memory or if we had simply reached the maximum performance of the chipset we could not say; as mentioned this is the fastest we have had DDR2 running. At the memory’s maximum speed we saw our first ever unbuffered Sisoft Sandra score in excess of 5000, with the Mushkin registering a whopping 5064MB/s. Be sure not to confuse the unbuffered score with the default buffered score which will of course be much higher, though a lot less useful in determining actual memory performance.
Conclusion
Mushkin’s roll continues, with each new product we review raising the bar over its predecessor. The XP2-6400 combines tight timings with the optimal 800MHz running speed for both Pentium and AM2 processors, and provides superb overclocking performance to boot. We were also able to take the timings considerably below their advertised ratings and max the memory out at nearly 1GHz. At €251 ex VAT the XP2-6400 isn’t the cheapest memory on the market, and costs a good deal more than ordinary higher latency PC2-6400 CAS 5 products, but then the difference in performance makes it more than worth the extra for those wanting to extract the maximum performance from their PC system. This is top quality RAM, and our new no.1 recommended memory for all AM2 PC systems.
Click for an explanation of our awards.
Pros
- Superb looking memory with great heat spreaders
- 800MHz is the optimal speed for AM2 and P4s
- Very tight timings for a 6400 part
- Great overclocking performance
- Lifetime warranty
- The fastest Sisoft Sandra score we have seen! - Excellent price vs OCZ and Corsair
Cons
- A premium price for a premium product
