System setup and notes
Here's a quick rundown of the test system should you wish to compare benchmark results with your own.Other components
AMD Athlon 64 3800+, run at 2200MHz, with 9x and 11x multipliers
EPoX 9NDA3+ S39 NVIDIA nForce3 Ultra motherboard
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256MB, 8x AGP, 350/1000
Pioneer 105 DVD-RW
Western Digital 160GB (WD1600) 8MB cache hard drive
Dell P991 19" monitor
Software
Notes
I've decided to compare Corsair's XMS4400 directly against its own 3200XL PRO 2-2-2-5 memory. It becomes a valid comparison if we raise the CPU's multiplier to 11x, giving an overall clock speed of around 2200MHz. However, this time, memory is also run synchronously but with 2-2-2-5 1T settings. I want to investigate if higher RAM frequency and timings, assuming a constant CPU speed, is better than a low-latency setup. I'll also be running the Athlon 64 3800+ at 2200MHz (8x275MHz) but this time with RAM at 220MHz instead of 275MHz. This is achieved by using the 166MHz RAM limit (5:4 ratio) in BIOS.
Summing it up, the combinations were run as follows:
2199.8MHz - 8x multiplier - 275MHz driven clock - Corsair XMS4400 RAM - DDR500 - 2.5-4-4-8 2T timings.
2199.8MHz - 8x multiplier - 275MHz driven clock - Generic PC3500 RAM - DDR440 - 2.5-3-3-7 2T timings
2210.4MHz - 11x multiplier - 200MHz driven clock - Corsair 3200 XLPRO RAM - DDR400 - 2-2-2-5 1T timings
