Testing:
Since we don’t have a ton of 12GB RAM kits lying around, we’re going to benchmark this RAM in a different fashion. We happen to have a triple-channel 6GB Corsair DDR3-1600 TR3X6G1600C8D kit, so we’ll be testing in the following fashion:
- triple-channel 6GB Corsair DDR3-1600 TR3X6G1600C8D kit
- triple-channel 6GB GeIL DDR3-1600 (3 out of the 6 sticks in our kit)
- hexa-channel 12GB GeIL DDR3-1600 (all 6 sticks)
We understand that it’s unfair to compare a 6GB kit to a 12GB kit, so we’ve evened the playing field by pitting 6GB kits against each other.
We’ll be using the following programs to test our RAM today:
- CPU-Z
- MemTach
- SiSoft Sandra
- Cache and Memory
- Memory Bandwidth
- Memory Latency
Some of the benchmarks we use can be found on our downloads page so you may test at home. Now let’s check out how well the Corsair RAM kit performs…
Frink NFrank: Yes I neglected to take into account the case of triple channel. I was looking at it from a single DIMM perspective as the first comment was in relation to DIMM capacity rather than speed.
yeah what he said, pretty much. I would keep praying for more RAM slots rather than higher single stick capacity. The only benefit of having DDR3 over DDR2 is the higher bandwidth, but the speed definitely suffers.
“The only benefit of having DDR3 over DDR2 is the higher bandwidth, but the speed definitely suffers.”
Since we are only talking nano seconds, the order of magnitude of bandwidth over latency is staggering. I assure you DDR3 7-7-7-24 @1600 is quite a bit faster than DDR2 @1066. Especially if you factor in the bandwidth benefits of triple channel that you cannot get from DDR2.
Still only 2GB per memory stick. When will higher density (e.g. 4 GB) sticks come out? Or aren’t the memory companies re-tooling and moving to smaller fab sizes?
Well, They already have 4GB Sticks and that’s all most mobo’s can handle. The real problem that most people over look is that you dont really need more than 3GB of RAM. Most people will never use it all. I have 4GB and the only time I can get it to break 3GB is when I run Crysis on maxed out settings and have Photoshop, Movie Maker, and about 10 other programs running in the background. It is really the Speed that matters, not the actual size. Also, Its better to have 4 -1GB sticks than it is to have 1 – 4GB stick, and that is something that will never change.
Eaxmple of a Kingston 4GB RAM stick…
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134863