When reading the article, I didn't find any info on how you adjusted tRD. I thought such adjustments weren't available in the BIOS except for certain X48 boards from ASUS (unless you resorted to FSB strap settings that might limit memory ratios). Is this setting beginning to show up on X38 boards as well?
I'd be interested to see something like this done with a Max formula board. Takes the X38 and pairs it with DDR2 rather than DDR3 which is still out of sensible reach for most people due to price.
Then you can compare memory performance and settings on the same chipset with the two types of memory. Throw a quad in to the mix as well.
It's also going to illuminate any benefits (if there are any) of moving to an X48 platform from an X38.
Keep up the great work. These articles are a world apart from anything else I have seen and has people thinking how they evaluate their systems at all levels of experience.
A DDR2 version will be incoming, as well as X48 asap. We have a few reviews to get done first, but will try to incorporate this form of testing into them..
Nicely written indeed but I gave up on overclocking, the real life benefits are not worth the effort. My 3GHz C2D runs at 3.6GHz easily with Tuniq Tower. Do I notice any difference in games? Photoshop? Nope. I used to get more excited about o/clocking I guess it passed with age:) Good luck to everyone though:)
I quite like the recent articles, that kind of quality infos & analysis is very rare.
I also liked the inclusion of some real world benchmarks, although the tRD article was great, I was missing some benchmarks demonstrating the real world effects.
Only thing is that DDR3 is still not an issue for most people, but the article is still well worth reading since since it explains underlying factors that affect performance.
the author questions why some memory manufacturers sell CAS9 DDR3-1900 as "performance memory" even though it means it has pitiful cas latency. The reason is that "performance" cannot be judged by cas latency alone. Sure with a low latency you can get a burst of data quicker, but with back to back reads on a memory, a higher clock speed is better. So it all depends how you want to look at it and how applications make use of the memory.
I would still rather buy performance parts that scale to Cas 7 at ddr 1800 than Cas 9 at DDR 1900+. The FSB/tRD and VMCH requirements just don't make intelligent sense. Then we have the 2N command rate to play with when we begin to scale much past DR-1900. I would call it a lose-lose situation.
I really enjoyed it and look forward to another one with Quad Cores if possible. Loved disco Stu and based on the dancing comments it seems as if Gary's humor has rubbed off on you.
One thing, is it possible to show a few more applications in the next article, gaming is fine, but would like to see what happens with encoding and Maya/Photoshop when overclocking a system. I barely can get above 400FSB with a Q6600 at 8x and hold steady on a Intel X38 board.
A great article - it truely shows how to overclock intelligently - it's based on facts/evidences, not blindly increase the whatever voltage and see what can be achieved. Congrat!!
haha nice use of all the dance references, made my day.
Great article, I enjoy these articles explaining more about Trd and various other BIOS settings, goes to show intelligent overclocking > max voltage/fsb stupidity.
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15 Comments
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AndyKH - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
When reading the article, I didn't find any info on how you adjusted tRD. I thought such adjustments weren't available in the BIOS except for certain X48 boards from ASUS (unless you resorted to FSB strap settings that might limit memory ratios). Is this setting beginning to show up on X38 boards as well?Rajinder Gill - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
There is a full BIOS guide for this board here (part of the full review).. 'Transaction Booster' is the function.http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3172&am...">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3172&am...
regards
Raja
Aurhinius - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
I'd be interested to see something like this done with a Max formula board. Takes the X38 and pairs it with DDR2 rather than DDR3 which is still out of sensible reach for most people due to price.Then you can compare memory performance and settings on the same chipset with the two types of memory. Throw a quad in to the mix as well.
It's also going to illuminate any benefits (if there are any) of moving to an X48 platform from an X38.
Keep up the great work. These articles are a world apart from anything else I have seen and has people thinking how they evaluate their systems at all levels of experience.
Well done!
Rajinder Gill - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
A DDR2 version will be incoming, as well as X48 asap. We have a few reviews to get done first, but will try to incorporate this form of testing into them..regards
Raja
Zak - Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - link
Nicely written indeed but I gave up on overclocking, the real life benefits are not worth the effort. My 3GHz C2D runs at 3.6GHz easily with Tuniq Tower. Do I notice any difference in games? Photoshop? Nope. I used to get more excited about o/clocking I guess it passed with age:) Good luck to everyone though:)Z.
Nickel020 - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
I quite like the recent articles, that kind of quality infos & analysis is very rare.I also liked the inclusion of some real world benchmarks, although the tRD article was great, I was missing some benchmarks demonstrating the real world effects.
Only thing is that DDR3 is still not an issue for most people, but the article is still well worth reading since since it explains underlying factors that affect performance.
menting - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
the author questions why some memory manufacturers sell CAS9 DDR3-1900 as "performance memory" even though it means it has pitiful cas latency. The reason is that "performance" cannot be judged by cas latency alone. Sure with a low latency you can get a burst of data quicker, but with back to back reads on a memory, a higher clock speed is better. So it all depends how you want to look at it and how applications make use of the memory.Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
Hi,I would still rather buy performance parts that scale to Cas 7 at ddr 1800 than Cas 9 at DDR 1900+. The FSB/tRD and VMCH requirements just don't make intelligent sense. Then we have the 2N command rate to play with when we begin to scale much past DR-1900. I would call it a lose-lose situation.
regards
Raja
Griswold - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
Disco Stu likes the style of this article!Samus - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
An unusually written article if I've ever seen one ;)goinginstyle - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
I really enjoyed it and look forward to another one with Quad Cores if possible. Loved disco Stu and based on the dancing comments it seems as if Gary's humor has rubbed off on you.One thing, is it possible to show a few more applications in the next article, gaming is fine, but would like to see what happens with encoding and Maya/Photoshop when overclocking a system. I barely can get above 400FSB with a Q6600 at 8x and hold steady on a Intel X38 board.
Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
Hi,We can take a look at Quad VMCH next up. Along with some different software too...
regards
Raja
enigma1997 - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
A great article - it truely shows how to overclock intelligently - it's based on facts/evidences, not blindly increase the whatever voltage and see what can be achieved. Congrat!!Owls - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
and very informative. thanks!Sylvanas - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
haha nice use of all the dance references, made my day.Great article, I enjoy these articles explaining more about Trd and various other BIOS settings, goes to show intelligent overclocking > max voltage/fsb stupidity.