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Evaluating today’s high end memory

Specifications
The product
  • PC-133 Memory
  • CAS2 Compatible
  • 6-Layer PCB
  • 128MB Modules



1 2 3 4 5 N/A 7 9 1
N/A

Earlier this month we took a look at two different Mushkin modules; high performance PC-100 CAS2 128MB w/Infineon chips versus the Mushkin budget PC-133 CAS3 128MB w/Nanya chips. From our testing, the CAS2 performance proved to be slightly faster in all of our tests. Using SiSoft Sandra 2000 Pro, the performance increase was measured at over 15%. This could translate a 15% boost for those applications that are specifically memory intensive such as various voice recognition programs and other non-3D FPU tasks.

In this article we take a look at Mushkin’s top line PC133 memory; their High Performance w/Mosel Vitalic chips (128MB modules). They submitted the revision 1.5 and their newest revision 2.0 modules. The only difference between both is that the new revision (2.0) has more "fine tuned" traces, which should result in slightly better performance. This memory is sold under the high performance "blurb" because Mushkin guarantees these specific products to run at a minimum of 133MHz using a CAS2 latency. This should result in a reasonable speed boost compared to a CAS3 latency. Our third candidate is Enhanced Memory Systems, Inc., with their High Performance PC133 HSDRAM module.

EMS HSDRAM

HSDRAM is a synonym for high-performance SDRAM. What justifies an H in the name? An HSDRAM chip must have low latency. That means that it basically has a low hesitation factor when asked to remember something to put it into simple terms. Latency factor is determined by access time, measured in nanoseconds (a billionth of a second, and abbreviated as nS). With computer systems accessing memory at extremely high rates, a lower latency can give a performance edge.

The Case Of CAS

CAS literally means column address strobe, which is fancy terminology for how fast the RAM in your precious box can process temporary information. The common designations for SDRAM has been 2 and 3. The 2 signifies two cycles and the 3 signifies 3 cycles. Because more cycles takes more time, the lower your CAS setting, the quicker your RAM is at a particular FSB.

PC "XXX" Speeds

PC100 theoretically gives rise to a timing spec of 10 nS. A nS is a short period indeed, being 1E-9 or 0.000000001 seconds. Fast, eh? An easy method of calculating the nS required to meet a certain MHz requirement is to use the 1000 (MHz-nS) rule. For example: 1000 (MHz-nS) / 7.5 nS = 133 MHz (rounded from 133.33). So if somebody tells you they have 5 nS RAM, that would imply a speed of 200 MHz. The vast majority of the time, this one or two digit nS rating can be easily found by closely examining the chip at hand.

The Test

We used the Asus P3V4X motherboard for the tests because of its multiple Front Side Bus speed flexibility: 66 / 68 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 / 100 / 103 / 105 / 110 / 112 / 115 / 116 / 118 / 120 / 124 / 126 / 130 / 133 / 135 / 138 / 140 / 142 / 144 / 146 / 148 / 150 / 155 / 160 / 166. All tests were done using an Intel Pentium III 550E CPU that is notable for it's excellent overclocking--especially beyond 133MHz. The video card of choice was the ATI XPERT 98 that utilizes the RAGE PRO chipset as this was the only video board that didn't have problems running at speeds beyond 133MHz. All CAS3 tests were at (322) and the entire CAS2 test was done at (222). The AGP ½ divider was used so the AGP speed was kept as close as possible to the 66MHz spec.

Test System

Test System

CPU(s)



Intel Pentium III 550E

   
Motherboard(s) ASUS P3V4X      
Memory

Mushkin HP REV1.5

Mushkin HP REV2.0 EMS HSDRAM  
Hard Drive

Maxtor Diamond 10.2GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA 66

CDROM(s)

Sanyo CRD-BP2 w/Tekram DC-390U2W SCSI controller

Video Card(s)

ATI Rage Pro (XPERT98)

Operating System

Name(s)

Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 98 SE

Benchmarking
Names(s)  

Candidates

Mushkin HP 1.5 PC-133

Mushkin HP 2.0 PC-133
EMS HSDRAM PC-133
85%
50%
85%

CAS3 Test

CAS3

133

135
138
140
142
144
Mushkin HP PC-133 R1.5
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
NO BOOT
Mushkin HP PC-133 R.2.0
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
NO BOOT
EMS HSDRAM PC133
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK

Notice that the EMS HSDRAM module is doing a great job under CAS3 (322); no wonder why it's called High Performance memory.

CAS2 Test


CAS2

133

135
138
140
142
144
Mushkin HP PC-133 R1.5
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
Mushkin HP PC-133 R.2.0
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
OK
EMS HSDRAM PC133
OK
OK
NO BOOT
NO BOOT
NO BOOT
NO BOOT


The HSDRAM module easily reached the CAS2 setting up to 135MHz, which is quite impressive for a chip claimed to be CAS3 (322). Unfortunately, we can't confirm that all of the EMS HSDRAM modules will reach 135MHz. As for Mushkin, it does 144MHz without any problems; however,I had to raise the CPU voltage from 1.60 to 1.65 for 99.9% stability.

Price comparison (04/26/00)

Mushkin PC-133 HP R1.5
Mushkin PC-133 HP R2.0
EMS PC-133 HSDRAM
$ 139
$ 178
$149.00

Conclusion

Mushkin has always been known for it's quality memory, and they do not disappoint with their High Performance modules. The REV1.5 and REV 2.0 are practically the same product as the maximum performance increase of the 2.0 over the 1.5 was 3% in high resolution Quake III Arena. Mushkin claims that the revision 2.0 has a newer and improved PCB, but with a price difference of almost $40USD, we recommend that you to stick with the REV1.5.

EMS HSDRAM is also a very interesting candidate; it's one of the top solutions for the power user. This memory is one of the greatest performers in today's market, particularly because you can be sure it will offer 99.9% stability at high FSB speeds. The module is claimed to run at CAS3 (322) but from our tests, this EMS module delivered much more, we reached stability at 135MHz CAS2.

If you are planning to use CAS2 on a overclocked system beyond 133MHz, then Mushkin's REV1.5 should do the job perfectly with it's current $139 price tag. I can't recommend the latest revision 2.0 because we couldn't see any significant increase over the previous revision 1.5. With EMS's HSDRAM module priced at reasonable 149$, this is a very interesting solution. If you will be using CAS3 on an overclocked system, this module proved to be the winner under all of our CAS3 tests. Even at CAS2, this is still an interesting product, we easily reached 135MHz at CAS2 (222).

Oleg Mitskaniouk

00/05/01







Web Target PC




 

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