We have been using Corsairs DDR433 in our Athlon64 FX-51 and 53 test systems for the past few reviews. Based on our experiences with it we thought it was time to take a look at the memory and let you know if it’s worth considering for your socket 940 based system.

The Product:
The Corsair PC3500 Model we have is 100% tested to work at ddr433 (217mhz) with timings of 2-3-2-6. Additionally Corsair have SPD programmed it so that if your motherboard is set to SPD rather than manual timings the board will boot with the ram at 2-3-2-6 (200mhz) which is a very helpful feature as it saves any messing about in the BIOS.

The 2 sticks come packed in a rather flimsy packet considering the value of the parts within. Some sort of padding would be advisable in our opinion. The inner sleeve of the package contains detailed instructions in 5 languages, with pictures, on how to install the Dimm’s. The Sticks themselves are very well designed. Each one is covered by a heat spreader front and back along with a hologram sticker showing the details of the part.

As these parts are made for Athlon64 FX systems they are also Registered Dimm’s which use ECC when enabled by the user. As a further quality check I was pleased to see that Corsair verify that the ram meets standards in both ECC enabled and disabled modes.

Test System:
Amd Athlon 64 FX-51
ASUS SK8N
2x512mb DDR333 Thanks to Crucial
2x512mb DDR400 (Legacy brand 2.5-3-3-5)
2x512mb DDR433 Supplied and thanks to Corsair
AKASA AK-855 Cooler
GeforceFX 5900 XT 128mb
IBM Deskstar 120 GXP 40GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
Sony CRX300E DVD/CDRW
Sony Floppy Drive
Mercury 400W PSU
AOC 19” 9GLR CRT

Software:
Windows SP1a
Direct X 9.0b
Detonator 53.03 WHQL
Nforce Driver 3.13
Unreal Tournament 2003 (build 2225)
PC Mark 2002
PC Mark 04
Photoshop 7

The test system was built from scratch, a format of the hard drive was performed (NTFS) and then Windows XP was installed. Following the completion of the install the N-force drivers were installed. The only updates applied were SP1a and Direct X 9.0b. Following a reboot the Detonator 53.03 drivers were installed. Next the benchmarking tools were installed and finally the hard drive was de-fragmented. For all tests the Nvidia drivers were set to best image quality.

Good Benchmarking Practice:
Each benchmark was performed 3 times and the middle result for each resolution/setting is shown in the tables which follow. After changing any Anti-Aliasing (AA) or Anisotropic Filtering (AF) setting and before a benchmark was run the system was rebooted. All games/applications had their latest patches applied.

 

 

Next: Pcmark02

 

Select 1. Introduction 2. Pcmark02 3. Pcmark04 4. Adobe Photoshop 5. UT2003 6. Overclocking 7. Conclusion