Conclusion
This review started off with me running the usual sort of benchmarks you find with most memory reviews. I decided to change it into more of an eye opener review, showing you just how much bus speed matters, and how raw CPU MHz is making very little difference. People have the notion that the processor is the most important part of a computer system, that it is the processor that makes the most difference - upgrade the CPU and you gain huge performance gains. Unfortunately it is not as simple as that, today's systems are bottlenecked by their memory and system bus's. You have seen the sheer difference it makes to unlock the CPU multiplier and increase the system and memory bus to the highest possible settings.It's a pity that these huge performance gains are not seen if you run the memory asynchronously to the system bus. The gains with a KT400/KT333 chipset are very little with the default 133/166 or 133/200 (system bus / memory bus) configuration. The more modern KT400 boards even show a drop in performance when configured as 133 / 200, this is mainly due to the motherboard relaxing the memory timings. If you are reasonably tech savy, have a look out on the web for articles on unlocking the AMD XP multiplier, but i must stress that these procedures do invalidate your warranty - so do so at your own risk.
For Pentium IV platforms the situation with asynchronous bus's is not as bad - and noticeable performance gains can be achieved with running your memory bus higher than your system bus. Since Pentium IV's cannot have their multiplier unlocked then this is the only option you have to make use of what this memory offers.
The TwinMOS PC3200 performed very well in the tests, even at its default timings. It's a pity it couldn't manage 200 Mhz bus full timings like the Corsair XMS3202, but still it's leaps and bounds over what you would be able to push the bus to with PC2100 or even high quality PC2700, and to be fair it is a lot cheaper.
Looking on the web, at the time of the review the only place i know you will be able to get this memory from is from Komplett.co.uk , they have it priced for £56 - which is an excellent price for huge performance gains, considerably cheaper than the Corsair XMS modules.
I hope this review has shown owners of AMD platforms that they should seriously think more about their memory and bus speeds as an upgrade, rather than just the CPU :)
