OCZ Blade 3x2GB PC3-17000 CL8 Memory Review

3D/Gaming Benchmarks

We have forced ourselves to step up to 3DMark Vantage results for all reviews because the public demands it. 3DMark Vantage is the newest in a long line of 3D benchmarking software from Futuremark and is the most elaborate to date. Featuring multiple presets for various system configurations, Vantage is the culmination of all 3DMarks past relying on system and GPU power for its results. We will stick to the Performance preset as it seems to be the most popular at this point in time. 3DMark 06 is the previous iteration of this successful 3D benchmark suite.

The numbers here are pretty similar to what we have seen up to this point. Memory timings typically don't have a huge effect on 3DMark and we feel the slight CPU increase is the primary factor in the score differences but the memory and uncore play a role in this as well. The results in both Vantage and 06 are pretty much exactly what we were expecting to see at these clocks.

We all know what Crysis is and how much it beats up systems but we wanted to add it to the gaming benchmarks to see how system changes can improve performance on a mid-level system. Detail levels are all set to Very High with the resolution at 1680x1050 with no AA. We ran the benchmarks with a demo of the Sphere level in DX9 and 64-bit. The game looks great with this setup and plays just well enough to keep us happy.

Another fall release of this past silly season Far Cry 2 has some beautiful scenery but does lack that buttery smooth game play in places. A lot of moaning and groaning has occurred with FarCry 2 but acceptable frame rates are much easier to achieve than Crysis and the game play is plenty smooth enough to enjoy. We were really able to crank up the settings with this benchmark on this setup.

The newest game in our testing sweet, Left 4 Dead was just added after we were asked to include a Source powered game in our memory benchmarks. Being based on the Source engine, there is definitely a chance that system performance will heavily influence the results. We used FRAPs to measure frame per second on a custom time demo of the rooftop level.

Well, let's keep this short and sweet...the smallest influence memory is going to have in your day to day life is going to be gaming. With the i7 platform, the system is just so strong and memory bandwidth is already saturating the CPU with data that increasing your memory frequency or lowering your memory timings are going to have very little effect on FPS. The fact of the matter is that GPU power is what determines gaming frames per second, not system power...again, once you are up to the level of system that an i7 rig is.