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Before we move on to overclocking and performance, let's take a quick look at
our test system.
| Motherboard: |
Soyo Dragon 2 875P Platinum |
| CPU: |
Pentium 4 2.8GHz |
| Video Card: |
ATI Radeon 9600 |
| Hard Drive: |
WD Raptor 10K SATA 36GB |
| Cooling: |
Swiftech MXC478-V w/ HS 80mm
fan |
Overclocking
For
our overclocking tests, we used a 1:1 ratio to determine the highest stable
memory overclock. Hyper-Threading was enabled and performance on the Soyo
Dragon 2 was set to normal. To determine stability, I ran Sisoftware's
Sandra 2004 Burn-In Wizard (CPU & Memory Benchmarks) a total of 10 times under
normal setting. The maximum stable overclock achieved was 245FSB, which
is slightly under its rated 500MHz capability. Although we actually
were able to run at 250MHz, it just wasn't stable enough for us to consider it
its maximum stable overclock. Anything above 245FSB, and things started
getting a bit flakey. Even changing the CPU:DRAM ratio did not aid in
reaching its rated top speed. Now, this does not mean this is not good
memory. In fact, it is very good memory. We will show you why
Kingmax Hardcore Series managed to really impress us in our performance tests.
But can they run at 500MHz?
Well,
as we mentioned in our Corsair review, the answer depends on what motherboard
you pair them with. Like the Corsair modules, you can likely achieve
500MHz with an Asus P4C800-E motherboard. However, we like to use a
different Canterwood motherboard in order to provide you with more realistic
results.
Sandra 2004 Memory Benchmarks
In
addition to measuring its performance, we threw the Corsair TwinX4000Pro
series in for comparison. Tests were run both at stock speed and maximum
OC. Now, before we show you the performance results, I would like to add
that these modules performed better thanks to the more aggressive timings I
was able to set them at both at stock and maximum OC. Unlike the
TwinX4000Pro, I was able to run them solid at 2.5-3-3-7. You will see
the difference in our tests.
Even
at 400MHz, they managed to outperform the TwinX4000 modules thanks to the
lower timings.
Again, the Kingmax memory takes the lead. Overall, these memory modules
were clearly faster than Corsair in our Sandra tests running at the same
speeds. I was not only surprised with the results, but impressed as
well.
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