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Product:
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Corsair XMS3200LL Pro Series Twinx Memory Kit |
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Price:
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$430 (CAN) / $328 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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Corsair
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Author:
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Hi-TEK
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Date:
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January 2nd, 2004
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Rating:
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To start performance tests, I assembled the following pieces of hardware to complete the system:
- ABIT NF7-S rev 2 Motherboard
- AMD Athlon XP 2200+ CPU
- 2 x 512 MB Corsair XMS3200LL Pro Series Twinx Memory
- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro video card (w/ATI Catalyst 3.9 drivers)
- 2 x Maxtor D40X-GL 60 GB Hard Drive (Raid 0)
- Promise FastTrack TX2000 ATA-133 w/ RAID
- Pioneer 106S 16X DVD IDE
- Lite-On LTR-40125S 40x12x48x CD-Rewriter
- PCToys Power Maxx 520W Aluminum Power Supply
- D-TEK Customs White Water Waterblock AMD (Socket A)
- HWLabs Black Ice 2 Radiator
- Aqua Via 1300 Pump (370GPH)
- Swiftech Pump Relay Kit
- Windows XP Professional SP1
- Direct X 9.0b
The Corsair XMS3200LL Pro Series Twinx Memory will be run through a series of benchmark applications
to record overall system performance. I will be running these modules in dual channel mode using
Corsair's recommended Cas Latency specification setting of 2-3-2-6 at a support voltage of 2.6V. These
tests were performed using stock setting of 1800MHz (CPU voltage 1.65) and overclocked setting of
2100MHz (FSB 233, CPU voltage of 1.8) over the course of 24 hours. All tests were run multiple times
to derive a performance average. The benchmark applications used in this test consist of the following:
- SiSoftware Sandra 2004 Pro (Memory Bandwidth Benchmark)
- AIDA32 (Memory Read & Write Benchmark)
- AquaMark 3
- PCMark04 (System, CPU & Memory Benchmark)
- 3DMark2001 SE
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Click image for larger view
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SiSoftware Sandra 2004 Pro (System Analyzer,
Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information and diagnostic utility which allows the user to
retrieve information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network,
Windows internals, AGP, ODBC Connections, USB2, 1394/Firewire and more. The scores derived in this test
represent synthetic benchmarks based on this particular system matched against rival chipsets.
Memory bandwidth scores are marginally apart in stock and overclocked modes.
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Click image for larger view
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AIDA32 is a professional system information,
diagnostics and benchmarking program. Like SiSoftware Sandra, this application can extract details of
all components inside a PC. The application includes a built-in hardware database which has detailed
information on 27000 components well as a full hardware & software report that spans over 85 pages.
The scores derived in this test represent synthetic benchmarks based on this particular system matched
against rival chipsets. Memory bandwidth scores are split between read and write modes for stock and
overclocked settings.
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Click image for larger view
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AquaMark3 is a powerful tool used to determine
reliable information about the gaming performance of a computer system. This benchmark extensively
utilizes DirectX 9, DirectX 8 and DirectX 7 functionality and represents the requirements of typical
gaming applications in 2003 and 2004. The scores were very impressive and again represents the performance
margin when the Corsair XMS3200LL Pro Series Twinx Memory modules are run past their 400MHz specification.
In this test I was able to push this modules up to 450MHz in overclocked modes.
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Click image for larger view
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PCMark04 is an application
based benchmark and a premium tool for measuring overall PC performance. It uses portions of real
applications instead of including very large applications or using specifically created code. This
allows PCMark04 to be a smaller installation as well as to report very accurate results. In this particular
test scores were dervived using the CPU and Memory Test Suites. In stock settings, CPU test scores were
3005 compared to 3152 in overclocked mode. In the memory benchmark, scores were 1954 in stock settings
and 2117 in overclocked mode.
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Click image for larger view
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3D Mark 2001 Second Edition
is a DirectX 8 and higher based benchmark that runs through a series of game tests, texturing tests,
filtering tests, image quality tests, and others give you an overview of your system’s current performance.
These tests demonstrate the kind of performance you could expect if you were to upgrade your PC. The
scores derived in this test again represent the performance margin running the Corsair XMS3200LL Pro
Series Twinx Memory modules in stock and overclocked modes.
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Conclusion:
The Corsair XMS3200LL Pro Series Twinx Memory Kit represents a great product suited for those individuals
who want the absolute best in terms of performance components. Corsair has taken a different approach
of combining several unique aspects to successful market this product. Consumers will appreciate the
custom designed XMS aluminum heatsink and pre-applied white thermal compound which keeps the modules
cooled when overclocking. The embedded 18 LED display visually displays memory activity and is perfect
for case modders and gamers who use modified PC's with side panel windows. By far the biggest benefit
of this product is the performance and stability in dual channel mode. In each of the tests performed,
the Corsair XMS3200LL Pro Series Twinx Memory Kit provided some decent numbers to reflect my gaming rig's
overall performance. What should be noted is that these benchmark numbers are relative only to this
configuration and will change as components are removed and upgraded. The low latency settings for these
particular modules allow you to really push this ram by either raising your FSB or using a CPU/DRAM
ratio and adjusting your memory timing settings. Ideally, consumers will have to tweak various aspects
of their system settings to achieve the type of performance warranted for system stability. The only
negative aspect of the Corsair XMS3200LL Pro Series Twinx Memory Kit is the associated market price.
These memory modules are very expensive when compared to rival brands and unless you want the extra
add-on features, consumers who want to save a few dollars might opt for the standard XMS series.
Overall, I was impressed with Corsair XMS3200LL Pro Series Twinx Memory Kit and award MTB's Seal of Approval and
a final rating of 9 out of 10. If you have
any questions regarding this review be sure to visit the Corsair
website for more information or discuss them in our forums.
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Pros:
- Custom XMS aluminum heatsink
- 18 LED activity array
- Excellent stablity and performance in overclocked environments
- Excellent dual channel support
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Cons:
- Expensive
- Motherboard must support higher system voltages in order to get a good level of performance
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