EMS'
HSDRAM review
Posted
by Adam
Klein on May 22, 2000 - Page 3/4
Company: Enhanced
Memory Systems Product: HSDRAM
Installation and
Performance
Installation of this memory is
as easy as any other memory out there, but the fun part after
plugging it in is to see how high you can clock the memory at. The memory that I previously had was Infineon 7.5ns (PC-133)
memory rated at 3:3:3. This
memory is still good, being able to operate at 143MHz with a
timing of 2:3:2. For
testing, I have found the beast tool is 3DMark99 Max.
That’s right, not 3DMark 2K,
but 3DMark 99. I
have found that 3DMark 99 is a little more sensitive to memory
clock speeds than the more complex 2000 version.
If 3DMark 99 Max can run the race scene in a loop for
more than 30 minutes, then the memory is more than likely
stable. I have
had some memory seem to perform great at certain speeds, but
when I throw 3DMark 99's race scene at it, it usually crashes
back to desktop or simply locks up.
Before I go any further, I'll give you a list of my
system setup.
- Pentium III 500E
- Abit BE6-II BX motherboard
- 128MB of EMS HSDRAM
- Creative Labs Annihilator
Pro
- Aureal SQ2500
The Infineon memory seemed to
operate fine at 150MHz with 3:3:3 memory timings, but it still
could not complete 30 minutes of 3DMark 99 looping.
After plugging in the HSDRAM, I kept the bus speed
where I had it before (143MHz), but lowered the memory timings
to the unsupported 2:2:2 timings.
After doing my testing I was happy to see that the
memory was still stable at this speed with the memory timings.
The next big step was to see
if I could operate the memory at 150MHz, so to be sure that
the memory timings didn't interfere with anything, I set the
timings to 3:3:3. I
was very happy to see that the memory did indeed pass the
testing. I pushed
it a little higher, but could not obtain stability, so I set
the timings to the lowest while still with stability.
The lowest I could get the timings at 150MHz FSB was
3:2:2. That’s
not bad at all, in fact, those are excellent results.
To measure the memory
performance I used one of my favorite and easiest to use
benchmark programs, SiSoft Sandra.
SiSoft does a great job at assessing the performance of
a systems memory. I was pleased with the benchmark results I got and after you
see them you will know why.
Memory
running @ 150mhz/3:2:2
Memory
running @ 143mhz/2:2:2
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