Crucial 32GB DDR4-2133 (CT8G4DFD8213)

Testing methodology

Comparison Memory
	G.Skill Ripjaws 4 3,000	Corsair Vengeance LPX 2,800	Crucial DDR4-2,133
Model	F4-3000C15Q-16GRR	CMK16GX4MA2800C16	CT8G4DFD8213
Capacity	16GB (4x4GB)	16GB (4x4GB)	32GB (4x8GB)
Speed	3,000MHz	2,800MHz	2,133MHz
Timings	15-15-15-35-2T	16-18-18-36-2T	15-15-15-36-2T
Voltage	1.35V	1.20V	1.20V
Price*	£380	£295	£300
Cost per GB*	£23.75	£18.44	£9.37
*Approximate, correct at time of writing
Test Platform
CPU	Intel Core i7-5960X
Motherboard	Asus X99-Deluxe (5501 BIOS)
Storage Device	Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
Graphics Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (340.52 drivers)
Power Supply	Corsair AX760i
Operating System	Windows 8.1 64-bit
Benchmarks
HEXUS.PiFast	Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places
CINEBENCH R15	Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores
HandBrake 0.9.9.1	Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores (64-bit)
AIDA64 v4.60.3124	Memory analysis tool supporting Haswell CPUs
3DMark	DX11, Fire Strike default test
BioShock Infinite	DX11, 1,920x1,080, ultra quality
Batman: Arkham Origins	DX11, 1,920x1,080, enhanced quality

Notes

Comparing memory modules of differing speeds on an X99 platform is not as straightforward as it should be.

Motherboards offer a maximum memory frequency of 2,666MHz when using the default 100MHz base clock. The only method of achieving higher speeds, for comparison modules, is to increase the base clock and input XMP parameters. Going via XMP requires the CPU strap and base clock set to 125MHz, pushing the CPU speed out of the default specification.

We want to lock the CPU speed to a a certain frequency and then see what effect memory timings and frequency have on our benchmarks, rather than what effect the CPU imposes. The way to do this is to select a CPU speed - 3.8GHz in our case - and toggle the other parameters to fit.

2,133MHz DDR4 - Crucial


3.8GHz CPU	2,133MHz memory	Automatic timings for Crucial

2,800MHz DDR4 - Corsair LPX


3.8GHz CPU	near-2,800MHz memory	BIOS setup for XMP

3,040MHz DDR4 - G.Skill Ripjaws 4


3.8GHz CPU	3,000MHz-plus memory	BIOS setup for XMP

We need to increase the DRAM frequency a touch to fit into an all-core 3.8GHz CPU speed, with the G.Skill running at 3,042.2MHz.

Overclocking

We've chosen three arbitrary speeds and default timings in order to evaluate the overclocking potential of the Crucial modules. Voltage was kept at 1.35V.