Page 2: Results:, Conclusion:
Results:
We will be focusing on real world testing. Encoding, gaming, and other test suites were used for the real world benchmarking. RAMspeed was used for a highly synthetic test. You will see the big difference in how synthetic tests can really skew results. The new Version 4 graphing system is in use and it shows everything you need to determine the results.
RAMspeed shows that a higher memory throughput helps immensely. This test is truly synthetic and is meaningless to compare with real world results. It is very interesting to see and that is why synthetic tests are used on many sites.
The audio encoding tests show that the extra memory bandwidth is helpful in most tests, but really isn't a deal breaker if you can't have the memory running at the higher speed. Most of the remaining tests will show more of the same.
The database workloads show much of the same. The faster memory speeds help overall, but not as much as you would expect with a huge increase in memory speed.
The gaming tests show that overall, more memory bandwidth is better. If the resolution was lowered, the testing would probably show more of an increase. That is not the point when people are running games at as high a resolution as possible. What is being shown is that the memory speed isn't that big of a deal if you can't utilize it over a lower speed.
Conclusion:
There is no question about the benefit of using a higher speed memory in your system. What is interesting is when the cost benefit really goes away. Think about using a slower speed memory for half the price of the high speed counterparts. System performance may not be as slow as what was once thought. This doesn't mean if you crave speed you shouldn't buy the best of the best.
Both of the memory articles really show that overall system performance doesn't really increase unless you take a part that is really slow to begin with. The switch over to SSDs really took performance to a new level. Memory speed might not be an important enough factor when running at stock speed, but it does have an impact on how much you can overclock a system. Higher speed memory will be able to handle itself better when overclocking and that's the real benefit of using the good stuff.
We will be focusing on real world testing. Encoding, gaming, and other test suites were used for the real world benchmarking. RAMspeed was used for a highly synthetic test. You will see the big difference in how synthetic tests can really skew results. The new Version 4 graphing system is in use and it shows everything you need to determine the results.
RAMspeed
- Name
- Value
Integer Add
- 1600MHz
- 9780.88
- 1067MHz
- 7137.79
Integer Copy
- 1600MHz
- 9999.95
- 1067MHz
- 7541.50
Integer Scale
- 1600MHz
- 10118.65
- 1067MHz
- 6933.53
FP Add
- 1600MHz
- 12059.79
- 1067MHz
- 8450.55
RAMspeed shows that a higher memory throughput helps immensely. This test is truly synthetic and is meaningless to compare with real world results. It is very interesting to see and that is why synthetic tests are used on many sites.
Encoding (Lower is better)
- Name
- Value
LAME MP3 Encoding
- 1600MHz
- 34.60
- 1067MHz
- 34.68
Ogg Encoding
- 1600MHz
- 21.29
- 1067MHz
- 21.85
FLAC Audio Encoding
- 1600MHz
- 17.91
- 1067MHz
- 17.57
Monkey Audio Encoding
- 1600MHz
- 23.89
- 1067MHz
- 23.94
WavPack Audio Encoding
- 1600MHz
- 18.60
- 1067MHz
- 18.55
The audio encoding tests show that the extra memory bandwidth is helpful in most tests, but really isn't a deal breaker if you can't have the memory running at the higher speed. Most of the remaining tests will show more of the same.
Database
- Name
- Value
SQLite
- 1600MHz
- 111.15
- 1067MHz
- 110.63
Tandem XML Write
- 1600MHz
- 31.47
- 1067MHz
- 30.96
Tandem XML Read
- 1600MHz
- 29.93
- 1067MHz
- 29.95
The database workloads show much of the same. The faster memory speeds help overall, but not as much as you would expect with a huge increase in memory speed.
Gaming 1920x1200
- Name
- Value
Tremulous
- 1600MHz
- 163.70
- 1067MHz
- 161.93
OpenArena
- 1600MHz
- 166.96
- 1067MHz
- 161.16
Urban Terror
- 1600MHz
- 118.50
- 1067MHz
- 124.90
World of Padman
- 1600MHz
- 305.40
- 1067MHz
- 299.86
The gaming tests show that overall, more memory bandwidth is better. If the resolution was lowered, the testing would probably show more of an increase. That is not the point when people are running games at as high a resolution as possible. What is being shown is that the memory speed isn't that big of a deal if you can't utilize it over a lower speed.
Conclusion:
There is no question about the benefit of using a higher speed memory in your system. What is interesting is when the cost benefit really goes away. Think about using a slower speed memory for half the price of the high speed counterparts. System performance may not be as slow as what was once thought. This doesn't mean if you crave speed you shouldn't buy the best of the best.
Both of the memory articles really show that overall system performance doesn't really increase unless you take a part that is really slow to begin with. The switch over to SSDs really took performance to a new level. Memory speed might not be an important enough factor when running at stock speed, but it does have an impact on how much you can overclock a system. Higher speed memory will be able to handle itself better when overclocking and that's the real benefit of using the good stuff.